Drug Giants Pursuing $50 Billion Settlement of Opioid Cases

This proposed deal is considerably larger than the tentative settlement negotiated by Purdue Pharma earlier this fall, not least because it involves five large companies instead of one. Under the Purdue agreement, Purdue’s owners, members of the Sackler family, would pay between $3 billion and $4.5 billion over seven years. The company would be restructured into a public corporation, with profits from drug sales going toward the plaintiffs. Purdue has also agreed to donate addiction-treatment medication.

The Purdue deal is being vigorously opposed by about two dozen states who contend that the Sacklers themselves are not paying enough money and have not yet fully disclosed how much they have earned from OxyContin sales.

On Wednesday, even as negotiations continued, jury selection was underway in the federal courthouse in Cleveland. Because the trial is expected to be heavily steeped in testimony about illegal drug use, addiction, crime and rehab, prospective jurors were interviewed in private in Judge Dan A. Polster’s chambers, so that lawyers could determine whether they had a glancing acquaintance with any of those topics.

The atmosphere in the courtroom was solemn and portentous, with lawyers proceeding exactly as if the trial will indeed begin on Monday, should talks collapse.

Johnson Johnson recently settled with the two Ohio counties for about $20.4 million, but the company is named in many of the other suits, as well.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/16/health/opioids-settlement-distributors.html?emc=rss&partner=rss