Purdue Pharma Has Declared Bankruptcy — Is the Company Still in Business?

Aug. 8 2023, Published 10:21 a.m. ET

The gist:

• Purdue Pharma, the infamous pharmaceutical company recognized for its function in the opioid crisis, declared bankruptcy.
• The Sacklers, who personal the company, agreed to pay $6 billion to settle the numerous court cases in opposition to them. The company can even stop to exist.
• When the bankruptcy deal takes impact, Purdue might be not and can become Knoa Pharma LLC, which shall be owned via the National Opioid Abatement Trust.
• The Sacklers will don't have any stake in this new corporate, and profits from Knoa will go towards fighting the opioid endemic.

Few companies in the historical past of American capitalism have a worse reputation than Purdue Pharma. The company, which is well known for making oxycontin and then encouraging docs to prescribe it broadly, even though they had been allegedly conscious that it was addictive, has been sued time and again for the role it played in the opioid epidemic.

More lately, Purdue Pharma had to claim bankruptcy because of the complaints, leading some to wonder whether the once massive pharmaceutical corporate is still in business.

Is Purdue Pharma still in business?

When the corporate introduced a plan for bankruptcy in 2022, a part of the arrangement was that the corporate as an entire would cease to exist. The Sacklers, the family who owns the corporate and was once a very powerful to its function as a distributor of oxycontin, agreed to pay a complete of $6 billion to settle the numerous proceedings across the nation against each them and the company. Reporting steered that the price of the deal could grow much more relying on what additional belongings the Sacklers dump.

The proceedings in opposition to Purdue alleged that the company played a the most important function in spurring the opioid epidemic, which has killed no less than 500,000 other people in the U.S.

When the bankruptcy deal takes effect, Purdue will emerge as Knoa Pharma LLC and will likely be owned by means of the National Opioid Abatement Trust, an entity managed by way of creditors of Purdue. The Sacklers have denied personal wrongdoing right through this procedure.

Purdue first filed for bankruptcy in 2019.

Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy in 2019 amidst a slew of proceedings that accused it of deceptively marketing OxyContin and fueling the opioid epidemic as a result. The corporate pleaded in charge to misbranding and fraud fees related to the selling of OxyContin in both 2007 and 2020.

The money that the Sacklers have agreed to pay will go toward combating the opioid epidemic.

The income from the brand new LLC that can be formed out of Purdue Pharma may even move toward combating the epidemic, and the Sacklers not own any stake in the company in any respect. The agreement was authorized in May of 2023, and it ensures that the Sacklers are now protected against civil complaints related to their roles in Purdue Pharma, even if no one in the circle of relatives filed for bankruptcy.

In spite of the cash that the Sacklers had been forced to pay associated with the lawsuit, some have alleged that the family was mindful that complaints could be coming after their cash and feature therefore hidden numerous it in offshore accounts, out of the reach of the U.S. government. As a outcome, it is most probably that the Sacklers will stay rather wealthy without reference to the damage they did through the epidemic.

Those who've adopted the opioid epidemic know no less than that the Sacklers are not the commonly appeared family they as soon as have been. Even so, they are going to by no means face complete accountability for the movements that they and Purdue Pharma took.

If you or anyone needs help, use SAMHSA Behavioral Health Treatment Services Locator to search out support for mental health and substance use disorders in your space or name 1-800-662-4357 for 24-hour assistance.

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