OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is set to be dissolved and replaced by a company focused on public good, as a sweeping legal settlement resolving thousands of lawsuits takes effect. A federal judge on Tuesday delivered a criminal sentence to the company, clearing the way for the settlement.
Victims of the opioid crisis, which has been linked to more than 900,000 US deaths since 1999, gave impact statements. Many argued the settlement does not provide real justice. Alexis Pluis, a mother who lost her son, said she cannot locate medical records to claim compensation.
Madeline Cox Arleo, the presiding judge, heard from mothers, a teenager born into withdrawal, and addicts. She questioned why Sackler family members were allowed to pay their $7bn contribution over 15 years. A lawyer cited the need to sell businesses, but Arleo remarked, “They’d rather pay it from future money than pay it now.”
Purdue admitted to lacking effective programmes to prevent drug diversion and paying doctors to prescribe OxyContin. The settlement includes $8.3bn in penalties, but the government will collect only $225m, with the rest going to state and local governments. More than 54,000 personal injury claimants voted to accept the deal.
