OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma has embarked on a multibillion-dollar plan to settle thousands of lawsuits in the U.S. over the deadly opioid crisis by transforming itself in bankruptcy court into a sort of hybrid between a business and a charity.
Whether the company can pull it off remains to be seen, especially with about half the states opposed to the deal.
Lawsuits have also been launched against Purdue’s subsidiary in Canada. The plan by Purdue and its owners to resolve thousands of lawsuits in the United States ought to include payment for the Canadian claims, British Columbia Attorney-General David Eby said in a statement on Monday.
“While B.C. is encouraged by a stated desire to resolve global claims, the opioid crisis is unfortunately not limited to the U.S.,” Mr. Eby said. “It has had, and continues to have, a devastating impact in Canada, with a correspondingly extraordinary toll on our health-care system to the ultimate detriment of Canadian taxpayers.”
The British Columbia government launched a lawsuit in 2018 against dozens of players in the opioid industry, including Purdue Pharma, which now has the backing of other provinces. If B.C. is not included in the proposed resolution in the U.S., Mr. Eby said, he will pursue his claims against Purdue and members of the Sackler family to the “fullest extent permitted by law.”
The pharmaceutical giant filed for bankruptcy late Sunday, step one in a plan it says would provide US$10-billion to US$12-billion to help reimburse state and local governments, and clean up the damage done by powerful prescription painkillers and illegal opioids such as heroin and fentanyl, which together have been blamed for more than 400,000 deaths in the U.S. in the past two decades.
The plan calls for turning Purdue into a “public benefit trust” that would continue selling opioids, but turn its profits over to those who have sued the company. The Sackler family would give up ownership of Purdue and contribute at least US$3-billion toward the settlement.
It will be up to a federal bankruptcy judge to decide whether to approve or reject the settlement or seek modifications.
Two dozen states plus key lawyers who represent many of the 2,000-plus local governments suing the Stamford, Conn.-based company have signed on to the plan.
But other states have come out strongly against it, arguing that it won’t provide as much money as promised, that the Sacklers are getting off easy and that the family has extracted a fortune from the company and hidden it away in shell companies and Swiss bank accounts.
“It should not be about billionaires using the bankruptcy process as a vehicle to further shield their assets and escape accountability,” Massachusetts Attorney-General Maura Healey said Monday.
Like her counterparts in such states as Pennsylvania, New York and North Carolina, Ms. Healey said she intends to continue a court fight against Purdue and the Sacklers.
The states in favour of the settlement include Tennessee and Texas.
Ohio Attorney-General Dave Yost said in a statement that the deal is better than other possibilities.
“The settlement puts the Sacklers out of the drug business permanently – not just in the United States, but around the globe. It takes every last dime that Purdue has and billions more from the Sacklers personally,” Mr. Yost said.
“The only alternative involves years of additional litigation in the forlorn hope of getting more personal money for corporate conduct.”
In its bankruptcy filing, Purdue denied it is “seeking refuge” and said the settlement is the best way to deliver the most possible money to the public.
The company projected it will spend US$263-million this year on legal expenses and other matters associated with the litigation, warning that the continuing costs will only reduce the amount of money available to the plaintiffs.
Federal Bankruptcy Justice Robert Drain in White Plains, N.Y., will have wide discretion over the case, including whether the states that don’t like the settlement can press on with their lawsuits. Justice Drain is scheduled to hold his first hearing on the bankruptcy plan Tuesday.
“It is likely to change a fair amount by the time when the judge would rule on it,” said Lindsey Simon, a professor at the University of Georgia law school.
Ms. Simon said it is also possible the company could switch from Chapter 11 bankruptcy reorganization to Chapter 7 and liquidate the company if the plan looks as if it is falling apart.
One almost certain outcome of Sunday’s filing is that Purdue will not have to face the first federal trial over the opioid crisis. The case is scheduled to start next month in Cleveland. The defendants will be a group of drugmakers, distributors and a pharmacy.
Shaun Wallace, 40, who co-owns three “sober homes” in Worcester, Mass., said he has been in recovery five years from an opioid addiction that started with OxyContin. He said he supports Ms. Healey’s decision to continue pursuing the company.
“They were pretty much giving us minor-league heroin and saying it was safe,” he said. “There should be more consequences for that family. Your average drug dealer gets in way more trouble than this family that’s just taken out a whole generation of our people.”
With a file from Globe staff