Oxycodone Maker Purdue Pharma Reaches $8.3 Billion Opioid Deal With DOJ 102120 [Archive]

Dachsie

21st October 2020, 12:05 PM

DOJ certainly needed a success story right now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5B6A9mNDVk

8:58 video runtime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5B6A9mNDVk

Oxycodone Maker Purdue Pharma Reaches $8.3 Billion Opioid Deal With DOJ

14,390 views
•Oct 21, 2020

Purdue Pharma, the company that makes OxyContin, the powerful prescription painkiller that experts say helped touch off an opioid epidemic, will plead guilty to three federal criminal charges as part of a settlement of more than $8 billion, Justice Department officials announced Wednesday.

The company will plead guilty to three counts, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and violating federal anti-kickback laws, the officials said. The resolution will be detailed in a bankruptcy court filing in federal court.

The deal does not release any of the company's executives or owners — members of the wealthy Sackler family — from criminal liability. A criminal investigation is ongoing.

The settlement is the highest-profile display yet of the federal government seeking to hold a major drugmaker responsible for an opioid addiction and overdose crisis linked to more than 470,000 deaths in the country since 2000.

The settlement comes less than two weeks before a presidential election where the opioid epidemic has taken a political back seat to the coronavirus pandemic and other issues. But the deal does give President Donald Trump's administration an example of action on the addiction crisis, which he promised early in his term.

keehah

3rd November 2022, 08:27 AM

yahoo.com: New Mexico presses opioid case vs Walgreens after settling with Walmart, Kroger (https://news.yahoo.com/mexico-presses-opioid-case-vs-210800914.html)

October 18, 2022
(Reuters) - The state of New Mexico on Tuesday urged a judge to hold Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc responsible for fueling the opioid crisis in the state, delivering a closing argument in the latest of several trials around the country against the pharmacy chain.

"The state has proven that the opioid crisis existing in New Mexico was a foreseeable consequence of Walgreens' conduct," Dan Alberstone, a lawyer for the state, told Judge Francis Matthew in the 1st Judicial Circuit of New Mexico in Santa Fe.

Alberstone accused the company of failing to "maintain effective controls" against the diversion of opioids onto the black market, saying it dispensed suspicious prescriptions without adequate due diligence or documentation.

Steven Derringer, arguing for Walgreens, blamed the opioid crisis on excessive prescriptions and smaller, "mom and pop" pharmacies with lax controls. He said the state had not offered any evidence that Walgreens dispensed any prescriptions without "legitimate medical purpose."

nypost.com: CVS, Walmart, Walgreens to pay $13.8B to settle US opioid claims (https://nypost.com/2022/11/02/cvs-walmart-walgreens-to-pay-13-8b-to-settle-u-s-opioid-claims/)

November 2, 2022
CVS and Walgreens, the nation’s largest pharmaceutical chains, have agreed to pay about $5 billion and $5.7 billion respectively in settlements to US states, cities and tribes over the opioid epidemic. Walmart also reportedly has agreed to a settlement of about $3.1 billion.

The deals totaling $13.8 billion would end thousands of lawsuits filed against pharmaceutical companies for filling prescriptions that they should have flagged as inappropriate. The settlements come as the last multibillion-dollar deals by drug distributors with the government for their role in the opioid crisis, which has been linked to over 500,000 deaths in the US over the last two decades...

The lawsuits, filed by local governments and Native American tribes, will be dissolved after settlements. CVS is required to pay $4.9 billion to local governments and about $130 million to Native American tribes over a decade, while Walgreens is supposed to pay $4.8 billion to governments and $155 million to tribes over the next 15 years. Walmart has agreed to pay $3.1 billion, mostly upfront. The exact amount will depend on how many governments join the deals.

“This settlement framework will allow us to keep our focus on the health and wellbeing of our customers and patients, while making positive contributions to address the opioid crisis,” said Walgreens representatives in a statement released by the company. “This allows our pharmacists to continue playing a critical role in providing education and resources to help combat opioid misuse and abuse.”

Opioid deaths have skyrocketed in the last few years, with the number hitting around 80,000 a year, most of which are attributed to fentanyl, the illicitly produced, lab-made version of the drug.

Majority of the opioid overdose deaths in the United States initially involved prescription drugs. As governments, doctors, and companies synergized to prevent addicts from obtaining and abusing the drug, the latter turned to heroin, a more lethal drug.

“We are committed to working with states, municipalities and tribes, and will continue our own important initiatives to help reduce the illegitimate use of prescription opioids,” said Thomas Moriarty, the chief policy officer and general counsel at CVS Health in a statement.

However, neither of the companies is admitting wrongdoing...

“In addition to payments totaling billions of dollars, these companies have committed to making significant improvements to their dispensing practices to help reduce addiction moving forward,” lawyers representing local governments said in a statement.

With the completion of these settlements, many smaller players will become defendants in the lawsuits, a move by the federal government to fight the crisis...

“The companies that helped to create and fuel this crisis must commit to changing their business practices, and to providing the resources needed for treatment, prevention and recovery,” said William Tong, the Attorney General of Connecticut. “One by one, we are holding every player in the addiction industry accountable for the millions of lives lost or devastated by the opioid epidemic.”

Some previous opioid settlements this year include a combined settlement of $21 billion by distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson. Another earlier settlement includes a $5 billion deal by the drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson. Purdue Pharma has proposed a settlement of about $6 billion in cash, plus the value of the company – funds that were to be used to incorporate a new entity aimed at combating the epidemic, but the motion has been put on hold by a court.