OxyContin maker signs $8B opioid settlement
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Purdue Pharma's Stamford, Conn., headquarters
The Connecticut-based manufacturer of OxyContin, among the best known and widely prescribed opioids, signed a settlement with the federal government for more than $8 billion, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Wednesday.
Purdue Pharma has been seen by attorneys general and others as largely liable for an opioid epidemic causing thousands of deaths in Massachusetts alone in the past few years.
“The abuse and diversion of prescription opioids has contributed to a national tragedy of addiction and deaths, in addition to those caused by illicit street opioids,” U.S. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen said in a statement.
Purdue's payment is the largest penalty ever levied against a pharmaceutical maker, the Department of Justice said in announcing the deal. The settlement is subject to approval of a bankruptcy court after Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019.
The settlement includes a $3.5-billion criminal fine and another $2 billion forfeiture. Purdue has also agreed to a civil settlement of $2.8 billion. The deal includes a resolution with some members of the Sackler family, who own Purdue.
[Related: Healey's case against Sacklers to proceed in Mass.]
The settlement resolves allegations that Purdue, which is based in Stamford, Conn., violated the Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act and conspired to violate the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute. Among the allegations Purdue is admitting guilt is it wrongly told the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration it had an effective anti-diversion program when it actually had been marketing its products to more than 100 health providers. The government alleged Purdue knew its opioids were being prescribed for uses that were unsafe, ineffective and medically unnecessary.
In Massachusetts, opioid-related deaths have exceeded 2,000 for four straight years, including the 2,031 deaths in 2019, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health. Worcester had 141 overdose deaths take place in the city in 2019.
Prescription opioids flooded into Worcester and other Central Massachusetts communities in the years leading up to the peak of the pandemic, the Worcester Business Journal reported in July 2019, citing DEA data. In Worcester, more than 49 million pills were prescribed at city pharmacies from 2006 to 2012, enough for 38 pills per person each year. That per-capita rate exceeded 80 each year in Athol and Gardner.
Nationally, prescription overdoses have fallen, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Prescription opioids being dispensed have fallen by 47% since in 2017, and prescription overdose deaths have dropped by 18%.
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