AP – Purdue Pharma’s quest to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of OxyContin and its other prescription opioid painkillers is entering its final phase with the grudging support of most of those who have claims against the company.
Nearly two years after seeking bankruptcy protection, the company is scheduled to appear before a United States (US) Bankruptcy Court judge to ask for approval of its plan to reorganise into a new entity no longer controlled by members of the wealthy Sackler family, and with profits dedicated to abating the opioid crisis.
Opponents fault the deal for giving members of the Sackler family protection from lawsuits over opioids even though they have not personally filed for bankruptcy or admitted wrongdoing.
But most of the groups with claims against Purdue are on board with the settlement plan.
Lawyer representing individual victims and their families Ed Neiger is planning to tell US Bankruptcy Court Judge Robert Drain that it’s better to approve the settlement plan than to have years more of court battles with Purdue and the Sacklers.
“The plan must be analysed in light of the alternative, not a comparison to the ideal,” Neiger said in an interview. “500 people have died as result of the opioid crisis thus far. If we go the all-out litigation route, another 500,000 might die before we see a penny from the Sacklers.”
Those with claims against Purdue were given a vote on the settlement, though Judge Drain is not bound by the results. Well over 90-per-cent of most groups of creditors — including local governments and individual victims — said they approved, according to court filings.
A group of Democratic state attorneys general were among the last to get on board. Until July, top state government lawyers were divided nearly evenly on whether to accept the deal. But several of the opponents signed on after Purdue agreed to make company records public and Sackler family members agreed to accelerate payments and increase payments. They would contribute a total of USD4.5 billion in cash and a charitable fund.
An analysis commissioned by a group of state attorneys general before changes in the agreement found the wealth of Sackler family members, estimated at USD10.7 billion in 2020, could rise to USD14.6 billion by 2030 — even after the payments — because of investment returns and interest.
Sackler family members have been adamant that if they don’t receive protections from lawsuits, they would not participate in the settlement and would instead mount a vigorous defence to any claims they face. One, David Sackler, a grandson of one of the three brothers who nearly 70 years ago bought the company that became Purdue, made a declaration in court and could be called to testify on it in the hearing.
“My family and I support the Shareholder Settlement because it represents an extraordinary opportunity to bring much needed resources to abate the opioid crisis, rather than spending years and depleting those resources defending the lawsuits against us,” he said in the statement.
Activist groups held a rally on Monday outside the White Plains, New York, courthouse where Drain is based, urging him not to approve the deal.
“They are opioid profiteers who have caused mass death and they sit pretty in this court,” one of the activists, Megan Kapler, said at the protest. “And it’s not right.”
The Purdue case is the highest-profile part of a vast landscape of litigation over an opioid epidemic that has been linked to more than 500,000 US deaths since 2000, including those from prescription drugs such as OxyContin and generic painkillers, along with illicit drugs including heroin and illegally produced fentanyl.
