Business OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma files for bankruptcy protection

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma files for bankruptcy protection

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday.

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OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Sunday, collapsing under the weight of thousands of lawsuits from states and individuals seeking damages stemming from the opioid crisis.

Purdue’s board approved the much-anticipated bankruptcy filing, days after reaching a tentative deal to settle some 2,000 opioid lawsuits filed by local governments, Native American tribes and states suing the company over the toll of opioids.

“This settlement framework avoids wasting hundreds of millions of dollars and years on protracted litigation,” said Chairman of Purdue’s board of directors, Steve Miller, in a statement. He said it “instead will provide billions of dollars and critical resources to communities across the country trying to cope with the opioid crisis.”

The Stamford, Connecticut-based company has been accused by nearly every U.S. state of downplaying how dangerously addictive its blockbuster pain killer is while exaggerating its benefits. The Sackler family, which owns Purdue Pharma, has been blamed for helping fuel an opioid epidemic that’s claims an average of 130 lives a day. They’ve also been ostracized from the philanthropy circles they once traveled as museums across the world reject their donations. Prosecutors say the company’s marketing practices encouraged doctors to push higher doses of the narcotic and contributed to a public health crisis that has caused thousands of overdoses in the U.S. each year.

The privately held company has previously warned that the cascade of lawsuits, which show no signs of slowing any time soon, put it at risk of bankruptcy.

Purdue and a group of state attorneys general had been negotiating for months to settle the lawsuits over the opioid crisis to avoid a trial, expected to begin in October. On Sept. 7, the Associated Press reported that Purdue was expected to file for bankruptcy after those talks hit an impasse. The next day, the company said it was still interested in continuing negotiations.

On Sept. 11, Purdue Pharma reached a tentative agreement to settle some 2,000 opioid lawsuits filed by local governments, Native American tribes and states set to go to trial next month. That deal didn’t include several states, including Massachusetts, Connecticut and New Jersey.

Opioid drugmaker Insys Therapeutics filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection June 10, marking the first drugmaker driven to bankruptcy due to its legal costs tied to the opioid crisis. Opioid maker Mallinckrodt reached a tentative settlement with two Ohio counties in early September following reports that it might file for bankruptcy.

The attorneys representing Purdue say accusations against the company are “not supported by facts and are fundamentally flawed,” adding its opioid painkiller represents less than 2% of the U.S. market. They also say new lawsuits rehash a lot of the same old allegations.

However, court filings against Purdue paint a different picture. Legal documents contend the company over the years repeatedly failed to alert authorities to reports its painkillers were being abused. The Sackler family also boasted about its sales, documents show. According to a court filing in Massachusetts, Richard Sackler, who was the company’s president from 1999 to 2003, said at an event that “the launch of OxyContin Tablets will be followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition. The prescription blizzard will be so deep, dense, and white.”

In March, Purdue and the Sacklers agreed to pay $270 million to Oklahoma to settle a lawsuit accusing the drugmaker of ruthlessly marketing and misleading the public about OxyContin. As a part of that agreement, Purdue agreed to contribute $102.5 million to fund the creation of a National Center for Addiction Studies at Oklahoma State University.

OxyContin is a prescription drug used to treat moderate-to-severe pain in adults. From 1999 to 2017, nearly 218,000 people died in the United States from overdoses related to prescription opioids, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. OxyContin first came on the market in 1996.

 

[Marissa Moira]

Nobody is ever too big to fail.

 

[Clop]

In times of peace people really love seeing something big collapse, and luckily it's something that fucking deserves it.

 

[Maggots on a Train v2]

>“the launch of OxyContin Tablets will be followed by a blizzard of prescriptions that will bury the competition. The prescription blizzard will be so deep, dense, and white.”
Are you kidding me?

 

[Snow Fox]

Fuck these pieces of shit. The courts actually did a good thing. Not often we get a real cop where one is needed but hey, clock twice a day, once in a blue moon, etc.
The real thing I'm curious about is how much money these greedy bastards squirreled away before the microscope of the gov't was upon them. Bankrupt or not, these bastards are wealthy.

 

[repentance]

I still don't totally understand how Oxycontin came to drive the opioid crisis in the US when oxycodone was already in use prior to the development of Oxycontin.

 

[Grotesque Bushes]

Fuck these pieces of shit. The courts actually did a good thing. Not often we get a real cop where one is needed but hey, clock twice a day, once in a blue moon, etc.
The real thing I'm curious about is how much money these greedy bastards squirreled away before the microscope of the gov't was upon them. Bankrupt or not, these bastards are wealthy.

They probably don't have a penny to their name. Thankfully their independently wealthy family members and their companies are supportive in those times of need.

 

[Feline Darkmage]

I still don't totally understand how Oxycontin came to drive the opioid crisis in the US when oxycodone was already in use prior to the development of Oxycontin.

I'm not sure either but it just seems like these pharma sleezebags went out of their way to push 'contin more than anything.

Also obligatory @ICametoLurk saying "Good"

 

[Dante Alighieri]

Easier to attack the company that makes the thing than go after the reason behind why people turn to opiates. What's causing so much pain that it's preferable to take drugs?

And what happened to personal responsibility? People know what these drugs do, it's not like there's warnings everywhere and have been warned for decades.

 

[Otterly]

I still don't totally understand how Oxycontin came to drive the opioid crisis in the US when oxycodone was already in use prior to the development of Oxycontin.

It’s the same active ingredient but the formulation is extended release. That means that it has higher abuse potential because if it’s snorted/ground/injected/ ingested the many incentive ways addicts do the high lasts longer and is stronger. The addictive potential is greater basically.

The way it was marketed also meant it was given to people who shouldn’t really have had it, more of those people and for longer

Perfect storm really

 

[Ineedahero]

And what happened to personal responsibility? People know what these drugs do, it's not like there's warnings everywhere and have been warned for decades.

It got took out back and shot when we decided too hot coffee was litigation worthy, you can't unring that bell.

 

[InvertedDickEnthusiast]

And how much liability will the Sacklers actually face? Enough for them not to be rich anymore? To do time in a club fed even?

 

[Übertroon]

I still don't totally understand how Oxycontin came to drive the opioid crisis in the US when oxycodone was already in use prior to the development of Oxycontin.

Weren't pharmacutical companies caught in shipping loads of "free samples" to suburban households?

 

[George Floyd Sneed]

Here’s hoping the (((Sacklers))) get sued into oblivion and don’t get to weasel their way out of this due to the bankruptcy.

 

[teriyakiburns]

It got took out back and shot when we decided too hot coffee was litigation worthy, you can't unring that bell.

The woman who brought that suit had third degree burns on her crotch and thighs from coffee that was kept dangerously hot and served in flimsy cups, at a time when McDonalds had faced and settled multiple suits for similar incidents.

 

[MarvinTheParanoidAndroid]

Fuck these pieces of shit. The courts actually did a good thing. Not often we get a real cop where one is needed but hey, clock twice a day, once in a blue moon, etc.
The real thing I'm curious about is how much money these greedy bastards squirreled away before the microscope of the gov't was upon them. Bankrupt or not, these bastards are wealthy.

If they structured their legalese correctly & used the right channels, it's entirely possible they're virtually untouched by the suit and the entity of the company is taking all the damage. Considering how utterly remorseless and cutthroat they are with their practices and abuse of industry and regulatory loopholes, it wouldn't surprise me if they had some intricate shit set up to wash money.

 

[Nykysnottrans]

What's causing so much pain that it's preferable to take drugs?

Having no sickleave and trying to work despite the pain using very strong painkillers. Michael Jackson became addicted to painkillers for this reason, because he wanted to perform and keep on dancing (ie, to keep on working) in his 50s despite the fact that he was too frail and old to do it. People also use painkillers as a substitute psychotropic, either for the placebo effect of "taking something/anything" or because the lack of pain or having to anticipate pain pangs actually calms them down.

 

[Weppers]

It got took out back and shot when we decided too hot coffee was litigation worthy, you can't unring that bell.

I’ve seen the actual photographs of that woman’s injuries. You ever been toasting marshmallows over a fire and you just let one burn until it’s all black char? Imagine that, but the skin of an old woman’s crotch.

There was already even a law in place about how hot something in a styrofoam cup can be if you’re handing it to someone in a car, and McDonald’s was breaking that law. That lawsuit was 100% legitimate.

 

[Super-Chevy454]

Here’s hoping the (((Sacklers))) get sued into oblivion and don’t get to weasel their way out of this due to the bankruptcy.

That's, if the Sacklers didn't die of "suicide" or "accident".

 

[Bunny Tracks]

It got took out back and shot when we decided too hot coffee was litigation worthy, you can't unring that bell.

The woman who brought that suit had third degree burns on her crotch and thighs from coffee that was kept dangerously hot and served in flimsy cups, at a time when McDonalds had faced and settled multiple suits for similar incidents.

I’ve seen the actual photographs of that woman’s injuries. You ever been toasting marshmallows over a fire and you just let one burn until it’s all black char? Imagine that, but the skin of an old woman’s crotch.

There was already even a law in place about how hot something in a styrofoam cup can be if you’re handing it to someone in a car, and McDonald’s was breaking that law. That lawsuit was 100% legitimate.

She didn't even want to sue them. She just wanted them to pay her $20,000 out of pocket medical bills, and McDonald's only offered her $800. McDonald's would then go on to spend millions of dollars on a disinformation campaign about "frivolous lawsuits", and completely destroyed the woman's reputation. Here's a video explaining it better.