A judge is expected to order Purdue Pharma, which makes OxyContin, to forfeit $225 million to the Justice Department on Tuesday, paving the way for the company to finalize a settlement of thousands of lawsuits it faces over its role in the opioid crisis.
The punishment was agreed upon in a 2020 agreement to resolve the federal civil and criminal investigations she was facing. If the judge signs, no further penalties will be imposed as Purdue settles other lawsuits.
Years after Legal twists and turnsIt was the settlement Another judge agreed last year and could take effect on May 1. The order requires members of the Sackler family who own the company to pay up to $7 billion to state and local governments, Native American tribal governments, some individual victims and others.
Here’s a look at the situation.
Bordeaux He pleaded guilty to three federal criminal charges In November 2020.
The Stamford, Connecticut-based company admitted that it did not have an effective program to prevent the diversion of powerful prescription painkillers to the black market, although it told the US Drug Enforcement Administration that it did.
She also admitted that she paid doctors through a speaker program to prescribe medications and paid an electronic medical records company to send doctors information about patients, which encouraged more prescriptions for opioids.
While Purdue produced only a fraction of the opioid pills that flooded the market in the 2000s, advocates have long viewed strong sales of OxyContin as one of the touchstones of the crisis. At a 1996 event to rally Purdue’s sales force, Richard Sackler, then a top Purdue executive and later the company’s president, called for a “storm of prescriptions.”
While Purdue is expected to pay $225 million, the government agreed in the plea deal not to collect $5.3 billion in criminal forfeitures and fines and $2.8 billion in civil liabilities. Instead, portions of that money are part of the broader settlement — and the federal government will get a small slice of that.
The broader settlement calls for members of the Sackler family, which owns the company, to contribute up to $7 billion over 15 years. Most of the money goes to government agencies for use in combating the opioid crisis.
It is among the largest in a series of settlements by drug makers, wholesalers and pharmacies in recent years — and the only major settlement that includes payments to some individual victims or their survivors.
Combined, the settlements are worth more than $50 billion, and most of the money will be used Addressing the overdose epidemic.
Under the Purdue deal, Sackler family members would be protected from opioid lawsuits from those who agree to the payments.
Purdue itself would cease to exist and be replaced by a new company, Canoa Pharma, which would operate for the public benefit and have a state-appointed board of directors.
The reorganization process is one of the most complex reorganizations ever. By the end of last year, Purdue had paid law firms and other professionals working on all aspects of the case more than $1 billion, according to a court filing.
The Sacklers have long been portrayed as villains in the opioid crisis, seeking to increase profits even after it became clear that people were becoming addicted to OxyContin and overdosing.
But none of the family members were charged.
Family members received $10.7 billion in payments from Purdue from 2008 to 2018. The company has not paid them since 2018 — the last of whom left Purdue’s board in 2019.
Under the settlement, they will not object if they are Names are removed from museums and other institutions They supported – something that actually happened.
More than 54,000 people with personal injury claims against Purdue voted to accept the settlement, and 218 voted against it.
However, some victims and their family members have been resisting for years, asserting that the settlement and admission of guilt fall short of achieving justice for the victims of the crisis that has been linked to the deaths of 900,000 people in the United States since 1999.
Tuesday’s ruling represents another opportunity for them to take this case before a judge.
Tyler Cordero, Susan Osterman’s son, died at age 24 in 2020 after overdosing on a mixture containing fentanyl after years of using heroin and other opioids. She organized others who had lost loved ones to submit victim impact statements to the court before sentencing.
The goal, she said, is to persuade the judge to reject the plea deal and for the U.S. Department of Justice to pursue criminal charges against individuals, including members of the Sackler family.
“The money should not go to states and municipalities,” Osterman said, noting that some governments have not yet used the money they received while others have used it in different ways. They are not closely related To fight the drug crisis. “They are not using this money effectively.”
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Associated Press reporter Alana Durkin Richer contributed to this article.