In U.S. opioid crisis, states say yes to $7B Purdue Pharma settlement

UPI

9 hours ago

June 16 (UPI) -- All 50 states, the District of Columbia and four other U.S. territories signed off on a multi-billion dollar settlement proposal with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma in litigation over Purdue's alleged role in fueling America's opioid addiction crisis.
In March, Purdue Pharma attorneys filed the proposed $7.4 billion settlement deal in a federal bankruptcy court over Purdue's assumed role in improper marketing practices after private negotiations with state attorneys general and other stakeholders in its bid to finalize the years-long lawsuit.
It takes the place of a prior settlement proposal the U.S Supreme Court overturned last year in a 5-4 ruling in June.
If finalized by all relevant parties, payouts would be issued over the next several years contingent on the approval by a U.S. bankruptcy court.
Purdue first introduced its oxycodone spinoff into the U.S. market in the 1990s, but in 2019 filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protections after Perdue was later recipient to thousands of lawsuits over OxyContin.
State law enforcement officers in California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia lead settlement talks in what is now thought to be America's largest lawsuit of its caliber involving the opioid addiction epidemic.
Purdue under the ownership of the Sackler family invented, manufactured and marketed its opioid products for decades, which local officials say directly exasperated addiction and droves of overdose-related deaths.
The settlement ends Sackler family control of Purdue Pharma, bars their ability to sell opioids in the United States with the Sacklers expected to pay $6.5 billion. Purdue Pharma, to be overseen by a monitor, must shell out nearly $900 million in its first payment, followed by $500 million a year later then again after two years, and $400 million after three years.
In a statement, Perdue said Monday's revelation of "unanimous support" for the settlement among states and territories was a "critical milestone towards confirming a Plan of Reorganization that will provide billions of dollars to compensate victims, abate the opioid crisis and deliver opioid use disorder and overdose rescue medicines that will save American lives."
It will infuse more than $50 billion by corporate America over the next 15 years in hard-hit small towns where addiction flourished in order to support programming for opioid addiction treatment, prevention and recovery.
"We appreciate the extraordinarily hard work of the state attorneys general and our other creditors in getting us to this point, and we look forward to soliciting creditor votes on the Plan after the disclosure statement is approved," Purdue officials added.
On Monday, Pennsylvania's attorney general noted how the state's local communities and its families "suffered" in what he described as an "unprecedented addiction crisis" in which Purdue and its Sacklers "reaped the mammoth profits from their products."
"This monumental settlement achieves the top priority of getting as much money as quickly as possible to prevention, treatment and recovery programs across the Commonwealth," Sunday, a Republican, wrote in a statement.
Meanwhile, local governments will be asked to join states in approving the settlement as part of legal process. A court hearing is schedule for Wednesday on the matter.