15 States Drop Opposition To Controversial Purdue Pharma Oxycontin Bankruptcy
Source: NPR
Fifteen states that led the effort to block a controversial bankruptcy plan for Oxycontin-maker Purdue Pharma have abandoned the fight. That's according to court documents filed by a mediator late Wednesday as part of a federal bankruptcy proceeding in White Plains, N.Y. Among the states that have agreed to sign on to the bankruptcy deal are Massachusetts and New York, whose attorneys general had mounted fierce legal opposition to the agreement.
"The negotiations were difficult and hard-fought, with the outcome uncertain," said federal bankruptcy Judge Shelley C. Chapman in the legal filing. Chapman was appointed in May to try to hash out a modified deal that the so-called "non-consenting states" could accept. The settlement plan, which is now all but certain to be finalized next month, would shelter members of the Sackler family, who own Purdue Pharma, and many of their associates from future opioid lawsuits. In return, the Sacklers have agreed to give up ownership of the bankrupt drug company. They will also pay out roughly $4.2 billion from their private fortunes in installments spread over the next decade.
According to the mediator's report, the Sacklers have now agreed to boost their settlement payment by a relatively modest amount — roughly $50 million. The deal also includes a "material expansion" of the public document repository already created under the settlement plan that aims to provide some transparency about Purdue Pharma's role in the opioid epidemic.
Members of the Mortimer and Raymond Sackler branches of the family emailed a statement to NPR praising the decision by more states to accept the settlement. "This resolution to the mediation is an important step toward providing substantial resources for people and communities in need," the statement said. Public health experts say the introduction of Oxycontin in the late 1990s helped usher in the nation's opioid epidemic, which has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Read more: https://www.npr.org/2021/07/08/1014043094/fifteen-states-drop-opposition-to-controversial-purdue-pharma-oxycontin-bankrupt
Link to the report - https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/20985212/mediator-report-july-2021.pdf
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