Bottles of prescription painkiller OxyContin drugs, made by Purdue Pharma LP sit on a counter at a neighborhood pharmacy in Provo, Utah, U.S., April 25, 2017.
George Frey | Reuters
A federal chapter choose stated on Friday he’ll approve a restructuring plan for drugmaker Purdue Pharma that features a $7.4 billion settlement resolving claims that it fueled the U.S. opioid epidemic by way of the sale of addictive ache drugs like OxyContin.
U.S. Chapter Choose Sean Lane, throughout a listening to in White Plains, New York, indicated he plans to log out on Purdue’s Chapter 11 plan, capping off a years-long chapter case that started in 2019, the Stamford, Connecticut-based firm stated.
Lane is anticipated to difficulty a full, detailed resolution on Tuesday.
“The plan is the product of intense work with our collectors by way of a singular, shared deal with delivering as a lot worth as attainable to meaningfully tackle the opioid disaster,” Steve Miller, Purdue’s board chairman, stated in an announcement.
Purdue filed for chapter in 2019 whereas dealing with greater than 2,600 lawsuits by states, native governments and others accusing it of contributing to the lethal opioid abuse epidemic by way of its advertising and sale of OxyContin and different ache drugs.
Purdue’s collectors embrace state and native governments, people who turned hooked on OxyContin, hospitals and others who had been harmed by the opioid disaster.
Its efforts to resolve their claims ran aground in 2024 when the U.S. Supreme Courtroom rejected Purdue’s earlier chapter settlement and compelled the corporate to cut back authorized protections for its house owners, members of the rich Sackler household, who had agreed to pay as much as $6 billion.
The ruling led Purdue to barter a brand new restructuring plan underneath which the Sacklers agreed to contribute $6.5 billion to $7 billion whereas collectors obtained the choice to decide out of waiving their claims and pursue their very own lawsuits as an alternative.
Members of the Sackler household have expressed remorse for his or her firm’s function within the opioid dependancy epidemic however deny wrongdoing.
A lot of the settlement funds might be paid to U.S. state and native governments, who’ve agreed to make use of the cash for opioid abatement efforts equivalent to dependancy remedy. Particular person opioid epidemic victims are entitled to obtain as a lot as $850 million.
After the chapter, Purdue might be transformed right into a nonprofit known as Knoa Pharma, which is able to deal with creating and distributing opioid overdose reversal and dependancy remedy drugs.
Purdue additionally agreed to create a public library of inner firm paperwork associated to its previous growth and advertising of OxyContin, together with the emails of Sackler relations.