Sackler family 'offer up to $12 billion to settle lawsuits over US opioid crisis'

The Sackler family own Purdue Pharma, the US drug company that makes prescription painkiller OxyContin.
AP
Daniel O'Mahony28 August 2019

Campaigners battling the US opioid crisis have welcomed reports that Purdue Pharma and its billionaire owners the Sackler family are preparing to pay up to $12 billion (£9.8 bn) to settle more than 2,000 US lawsuits.

Sources told NBC that lawyers for the firm met with plaintiffs and states attorneys to discuss the potential deal in Cleveland, Ohio last week.

This deal will also see the Sacklers give up ownership of the company.

The lawsuits allege that Purdue Pharma undertook aggressive and misleading marketing campaigns to sell its product OxyContin, a painkiller that has become synonymous with the US opioid epidemic.

Purdue and the Sackler family deny all allegations.

There were around 400,000 opioid overdose deaths in America from 1999 to 2017, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

On Monday a judge in Oklahoma ordered pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson to pay $572 million (£469 m) for its role in the state’s opioid crisis.

In a statement Purdue did not comment on a potential settlement amount but confirmed it was “actively working with the state attorneys general and other plaintiffs” to achieve a “constructive global resolution”.

The Sackler family own Purdue Pharma, the US company that makes the prescription painkiller OxyContin
AP

The firm said: “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.”

Purdue is one of 22 drug makers, pharmacies and distributors due to go on trial in October.

Reacting to the news, Cathryn Kemp, a UK journalist and campaigner who suffered from opioid addiction, told the Standard: “It’s great to see there’s responsibility being taken. It’s good to see there’s a tough stance in the US.

“I think what we need to see is a culture of responsibility. And I think that’s starting to happen.

“While we have this spotlight on America, with Johnson & Johnson and Purdue, we need to be looking at what we’re doing over here and the patients over here that are affected by this — and there are thousands of them. It’s a silent epidemic in the UK.”

According to NBC, the deal could see Purdue declare a form of bankruptcy allowing it to restructure into a for-profit “public benefit trust,” that would fund addiction treatment.

The Sackler family, thought to be worth $13 billion (£10.6 bn), would pay at least $3 billion (£2.4 bn) by selling off a separate company, Mundipharma.

Last year an Evening Standard investigation examined the ties between the Sackler family and a number of London cultural institutions.

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