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The manufacturer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, has reached an agreement in principle to settle some 2,000 lawsuits for opioids filed by local governments, Native American tribes and states, which should be tried next month.
The deal will cost the company and its billionaire owners, the Sackler family, between $ 10 billion and $ 12 billion, according to several reports. That includes $ 3 billion from the personal fortune of the Sackler family, according to the Washington Post. The company should soon file for bankruptcy.
Whatever the contract is, it does not cover all potential litigation of the company. Arizona Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the agreement covered about half of the states suing the company.
This does not include many big ones, including Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey.
"Families who have been hurt by Purdue and the Sacklers have made it clear that this case requires real accountability, and I will continue to fight for it," Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said in a statement. "It is essential that all the facts be revealed about what this company, its directors and directors have done, that they apologize for the wrongs that they have caused and that no one takes advantage of the violation of the law. "
New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal said that if Purdue "also goes bankrupt, New Jersey will continue to seek out all available legal options against those responsible, and if Purdue can not pay for the wrongs done, the Sacklers will do it ".
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said his state did not agree to settle his claims. "Our position remains firm and unchanged and nothing for us has changed today," he said on Twitter.
The company based in Stamford, Connecticut, has been accused by almost all the US of downplaying the dangerous dependence of its blockbuster painkillers while exaggerating the benefits. Prosecutors said the company's business practices were pushing doctors to push narcotics into higher doses and contributing to a public health crisis that killed an average of 130 people a day.
Purdue, the Sackler family and a group of state attorneys general have been negotiating for months to settle opioid crisis litigation to avoid a trial, which should open in October. On Sept. 7, the Associated Press reported that Purdue should declare bankruptcy after stalemate negotiations. The next day, the company said that she was still interested in continuing negotiations.
"Purdue Pharma continues to work with all plaintiffs to find a global solution to its billion dollar opioid litigation and essential life-saving drugs for opioid overdose in communities across the country." affected by the opioid crisis, "the company said in a statement.
Purdue's lawyers said the charges against the company "are unsupported by facts and fundamentally flawed," adding that its opioid pain reliever accounts for less than 2 percent of the US market. They also say the new lawsuits repeat many of the old allegations.
However, court filings against Purdue paint a different picture. Legal documents argue that the company, over the years, has repeatedly failed to alert the authorities to the fact that its painkillers were abused. The Sackler family is also touted for its sales, according to documents. According to a report filed in Massachusetts, Richard Sackler, president of the company from 1999 to 2003, said at an event that "the launch of OxyContin tablets will be followed by a blizzard of prescriptions intended to bury the competition, to be so deep, dense and white. "
In March, Purdue and the Sacklers agreed to pay $ 270 million to Oklahoma to settle a dispute accusing the drug maker of mercilessly selling and deceiving the public about OxyContin. As part of this agreement, Purdue has agreed to provide $ 102.5 million to fund the establishment of a national center for addiction studies at Oklahoma State University.
OxyContin is a prescription medication used to treat moderate to severe pain in adults. According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 218,000 people died in the United States of an overdose related to prescription opioids. OxyContin appeared on the market in 1996.
This is a story in development. Please check again for updates.
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