Kate Randall
Purdue Pharma, the producer of OxyContin, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Sunday. The move is part of an effort to settle litigation with dozens of states and other plaintiffs who charge the company deliberately fueled the opioid crisis while pocketing tens of billions of dollars.
The filing is a contemptuous slap in the face to the thousands who have suffered addiction, overdose and death from opioids along with the communities they live in. The opioid epidemic now kills 70,000 people a year in the US. Under terms of the settlement, Purdue Pharma would admit to no guilt for the epidemic and its owners would take away billions in personal wealth.
Purdue Pharma is principally owned by the descendants of Mortimer and Raymond Sackler, both physicians. The Sackler family issued a statement feigning sympathy for the victims of the opioid crisis. “Like families across America, we have deep compassion for the victims of the opioid crisis,” it said, calling the settlement a “historic step toward providing critical resources that address a tragic public health situation.”
The bankruptcy filing in New York came just days after the Stamford, Connecticut-based pharmaceutical struck a deal with more than 2,000 local governments across the US over its alleged role in creating and fueling the deadly epidemic. Purdue’s board of directors approved the settlement Sunday, in which the Sackler family agrees to relinquish ownership of the privately held and immensely lucrative company. The company would be restructured as a public beneficiary trust.
The Sacklers also agreed to provide $3 billion in cash over several years and pledged future revenue from the sales by Purdue, for an estimated total of $12 billion, to go to the communities most sharply affected by the opioid crisis. Twenty-six states opposing the deal contest this estimate, saying they will take the Sackler family to state courts in an attempt to seize some portion of the Sackler family’s fortune.
Purdue Chairman Steve Miller said in a statement: “The resumption of litigation would rapidly diminish all the resources of the company and would be lose-lose-lose all the way around. Whatever people might wish for is not on the table now.”
The Sackler family still completely owns Purdue Pharma and an estimated $13 billion net worth is shared among some 20 family members. The settlement and bankruptcy filing would allow the family to pay what amounts to a pittance for them, $3 billion, and exit the company with no guarantee that the rest of the funds will ever reach its victims.
From 1995—when Oxycontin was introduced—to 2011, the drug brought in $2.8 billion in revenue for Purdue Pharma. By 2017, cumulative revenue from the drug had skyrocketed to an obscene $35 billion. These billions were the result of a deliberately false advertising campaign, which claimed that the 12-hour extended-release opioid was not addictive. The company aggressively pressured doctors to prescribe the drug, offering them paid speaking engagements, free trips to pain-management seminars and other perks.
According to data released by the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and analyzed in a July report by the Washington Post, between 2006 to 2012, drug companies—with Purdue in the lead—poured 76 billion oxycodone and hydrocodone pills into US neighborhoods, enough to provide every adult and child in the country with 36 pills each per year. The ensuing epidemic has placed an immense strain on healthcare systems, social services, and the foster care system. Big Pharma made countless billions as a direct result of this human suffering.
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