15 States Reach a Deal With Purdue Pharma Over Opioids

An initial disclosure of millions of documents is expected this winter and will be readily available on the internet. Additional, formerly confidential documents may emerge within a few years.

Another official in the pursuit of the Sacklers was Letitia James, the attorney general of New York.

“For nearly two years, since Purdue Pharma declared bankruptcy, the company and the Sackler family have used every delay tactic possible and misused the courts — all in an effort to shield their misconduct,” she said. “While this deal is not perfect, we are delivering $4.5 billion into communities ravaged by opioids on an accelerated timetable and it gets one of the nation’s most harmful drug dealers out of the opioid business once and for all.”

In addition to Massachusetts, New York and Minnesota, the other states who have signed on include Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Virginia and Wisconsin.

Eight states, including California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont and Washington, along with the District of Columbia, continue to oppose the agreement.

“While some progress has been made — especially around the public document depository — this plan is far from justice,” said William Tong, the attorney general of Connecticut. “Purdue and the Sacklers have misused this bankruptcy to protect their vast wealth and evade consequences for their callous misconduct. This deal alarmingly allows the Sacklers to still walk away with their personal wealth intact, and now allows funds already intended for charity to be included in this deal. We are evaluating all options to continue to fight this bankruptcy plan until all viable options are exhausted.”

The first lawsuits to take on the supply chain of opioids were filed in 2014, and Purdue Pharma quickly topped the list of companies most frequently named. Defendants now include many other manufacturers, drug distributors and dispensers, including marquee names like Walmart and Walgreens.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/08/health/purdue-pharma-opioids-settlement.html