The manufacturer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, protects itself from bankruptcies

The manufacturer of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, filed an application for Chapter 11 protection, collapsing under the weight of thousands of lawsuits from states and individuals claiming damages and interest resulting from the opioid crisis.

The company based in Stamford, Connecticut, has been accused by almost all the US of downplaying the dangerous magnitude of its blockbuster pain addiction while exaggerating the benefits. The Sackler family, owner of Purdue Pharma, has been accused of helping to fuel an epidemic of opioids that killed at least 130 people a day. They were also put away from the philanthropic circles they had attended while museums around the world refused their donations. Prosecutors said the company's business practices were pushing doctors to push the narcotic at higher doses and contributing to a public health crisis causing thousands of overdoses each year in the United States.

The private company has already warned that the cascade of lawsuits, which showed no sign of slowing down as soon as possible, exposed him to bankruptcy.

Purdue and a group of state attorneys general had been negotiating for months to resolve the 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.

On September 11, Purdue Pharma reached an agreement in principle to settle some 2,000 opioid lawsuits filed by local governments, Native American tribes and US states that are expected to be tried next month. This agreement did not include several states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey.

The opioid drug maker Insys Therapeutics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on June 10, marking the start of the first drug maker sentenced to bankruptcy because of its legal costs related to the opioid crisis. The opioid manufacturer Mallinckrodt concluded early September an agreement in principle with two counties in Ohio, following reports that it could declare itself bankrupt.

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 that will bury the competition, 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 came on the market in 1996.

This is a story in development. Please check again for updates.

CNBC Lauren Hirsch contributed to this article.