Purdue Pharma Proposes $10-12B To Settle Opioid Crisis

Purdue Pharma Proposes $10-12B To Settle Opioid Crisis

Introduction

Drugmaker and distributor Purdue Pharma LP and its owners, the Sackler family, have proposed $10 billion to $12 billion to settle more than 2,000 opioid lawsuits against the company.

The proposed deal was part of a confidential discussion by Purdue's lawyers at a meeting held in Cleveland on August 20. The discussion included 10 state attorneys and the plaintiff's attorneys, where David Sackler, the spokesperson for Purdue, represented the Sackler family. Purdue is among the several drugmakers that have been alleged for fueling the opioid epidemic in the United States. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the epidemic claimed 400,000 lives between 1999 to 2017.

The Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma is facing allegations claiming that it aggressively marketed prescription opioids by misleading prescribers and consumers about risks from its prolonged use. Purdue said it is actively working with state attorneys general and other plaintiffs to resolve the crisis, and currently, there is no agreement, and the settlement discussions could collapse.

Companies manufacturing opioids convinced the medical community that these medications were not addictive and were purely beneficial. This belief raised the number of prescriptions and sales unwarrantedly, resulting in a mass misuse of these drugs, to the extent that this was identified by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as a public issue and named it an 'opioid crisis.'

Opioid lawsuits are consolidated under MDL No. 2804 (In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation) presided by Judge Dan Polster.