Twenty-three states and three territories have agreed to Purdue Pharma's multibillion-dollar settlement deal over the claims that the drugmaker illegally marketed opioid painkillers.
According to the current proposal, the OxyContin maker and its owners, the Sackler family would guarantee to pay $3 billion and file for bankruptcy, cede itself over to a trust controlled by the states, cities, and counties that have sued and sell its U.K.-based drugmaker Mundipharma. The settlement has been valued between $10 billion and $12 billion, however more of which would rely on future sales of its signature painkiller and the development of drugs to treat opioid addiction.
The defendants, facing around 2,500 lawsuits brought by every state as well as cities, counties, Native American tribes, and others, have stated that they are continually working with all the plaintiffs to reach a comprehensive resolution that would deliver billions of dollars and vital opioid overdose rescue medicines to communities across the country. The company is also negotiating separately with the U.S. Justice Department to resolve criminal and civil probes.
The agreement is being opposed by several large states, who could fight against the attempts by Purdue to approve the deal in a bankruptcy proceeding.
The deal was proposed at a confidential meeting held in Cleveland on August 20 by the company's lawyers. The meeting included 10 state attorneys and the plaintiff's attorneys. David Sackler was the spokesperson for Purdue and represented the Sackler family. It is alleged that Purdue is one of the major drugmakers that fuelled the opioid epidemic in the United States. 400,000 people died between 1999 to 2017 due to the epidemic as per the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
