In a settlement proposal, the terms would be that the Sackler family would pay $3 billion of their personal funds to resolve the other lawsuits that are still in process.
What We Know:
- After the release of the 2015 deposition, the Sackler family is considering no longer owning Purdue Pharma. This could be due to the financial and social pressure that Purdue Pharma is feeling. They are currently being held accountable for aiding the opioid epidemic.
- It has been reported that over the last two decades more than 400,000 people have died from opioid overdoses. Many connect the aggressive push for OxyContin to be used with the opioid crisis.
- Back in 2007, the company paid a fine of $600 million when Purdue and three top executives pleaded guilty to misleading “regulators, doctors and patients about the drug’s risk of addiction and its potential to be abused.” Even after paying the fine, Purdue continued with their incomplete and misleading promotion of OxyContin. The court settlement could be between $10 to $12 billion in total. Earlier this year, it was estimated that the Sackler family was worth around $13 billion.
- Purdue’s response to the reports states, “While Purdue Pharma is prepared to defend itself vigorously in the opioid litigation, the company has made clear that it sees little good coming from years of wasteful litigation and appeals. The people and communities affected by the opioid crisis need help now. Purdue believes a constructive global resolution is the best path forward, and the company is actively working with the state attorneys general and other plaintiffs to achieve this outcome.”
- In the settlement, Purdue Pharma would file for bankruptcy and become a public beneficiary trust. The trust will be overlooked by three uninvolved trustees. This trust would become a place of public rehabilitation. It would provide addiction treatment drugs for free. It would also be agreed that the plaintiffs would get the profits from all drug sales.
- The value of the profits from the new trust and the drug donations is estimated to total between $7-8 billion. In addition to their $3 billion cash payout, the Sacklers would sell another drug company they own, Mundipharma, and contribute an additional $1.5 billion from the proceeds, according to The New York Times.
- This complex case has 10 other U.S. states involved with the negotiation talks. We are still waiting for the outcome of the 38 states that have also filed lawsuits.
If the settlement goes through, then Purdue would be at the forefront of dozens of companies that would be held responsible for having a part in the opioid epidemic.
