Purdue Pharma, the Connecticut opioid manufacturer facing litigation from 24 state attorneys general, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy as part of its $10-billion settlement with the law enforcement officials over its role in the opioid crisis.
As part of the settlement, the company will provide more than $10 billion in value to address the crisis it is alleged to have helped create, including the company owners creating a trust consisting of all the company’s assets to benefit the plaintiffs and American people, the creation of a new board to run the new company, marketing restrictions, contributing tens of millions to opioid overdose reversal and addiction treatment medications and a minimum of $3 billion from the Sackler family, which heads the company.
Last week, Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey’s office said she is not one of the state officials that signed onto the settlement.
In a tweet Monday, Healey cited a Washington Post story of the company’s bankruptcy filing and said she will continue to pursue the company and Sackler family in both the bankruptcy court and in Massachusetts Superior Court.
“We will keep fighting to get all the facts out, make sure this company is shut down forever, and force the Sacklers to pay back the billions they pocketed breaking the law,” Healey wrote.
In court filings, the company said it is facing more than 2,600 lawsuits in state and federal court systems and has been responding to subpoenas and civil investigative demands by the U.S. Department of Justice in connection with criminal and civil investigations.
In Massachusetts, there are signs of the opioid epidemic slowing, though overdose death figures remained above 2,000 in 2018. Since reaching a high of 2,094 in 2016, overdose deaths have fallen slightly each year.
Through six months of 2019, there have been 948 deaths related to an opioid overdose, according to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health.
