Purdue Pharma Responds to Wave of Opioids Litigation by Filing for Bankruptcy. What Happens Now?

Purdue Pharma, a pharmaceutical company facing an onslaught of litigation for allegedly contributing to the opioid crisis, filed for bankruptcy on Sunday as part of a tentative, yet controversial settlement with state and local governments. Purdue is being sued in various courts over using allegedly deceptive marketing practices to promote its prescription painkiller OxyContin. One major federal case before an Ohio judge involves at least 1,600 consolidated lawsuits from across the country, including regions hard-hit by the crisis, like Portsmouth, Ohio, and Huntington, W.Va. On Monday, the judge overseeing that case removed Purdue as a defendant, the Associated Press reported. Purdue said in a statement on Sunday that they had reached the possible settlement with members of the plaintiffs’ counsel, in addition to 24 state attorneys general. Purdue announced in its statement that the proposed settlement is “estimated to provide more than $10 billion of value to address the opioid crisis.” It did not admit to any wrongdoing. More than 215,000 people died in the U.S. from overdoses related to prescription opioids between 1999 and 2017. The number of deaths were five times higher in 2017 than 1999, according to the Centers for Disease Control — nearly 50,000 Americans died in 2017 alone. That year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services declared the opioid crisis a public health emergency. “This settlement framework avoids wasting hundred...
Source: TIME: Health - Category: Consumer Health News Authors: Tags: Uncategorized onetime opioid crisis Source Type: news