End Substance Use Disorder Praises U.S. Department of Justice for Appealing Purdue Pharma Settlement Agreement
Today, the U.S. Department of Justice filed a motion to stop the settlement agreement with Purdue Pharma, maker of Oxycontin, from being finalized. The controversial settlement agreement had granted the Sackler family broad immunity from legal action for their role in the opioid overdose crisis.
“We praise the U.S. Department of Justice for standing for the rights of the families and communities that have been torn apart by the Sackler’s corporate greed,“ said Erin Schanning, president of End Substance Use Disorder. “No one who takes the lives of hundreds of thousands and inflicts suffering on millions of people should be able to hide behind the shield of corporate bankruptcy. The Sacklers made billions on the death and suffering of innocent families and they should be held fully accountable for their wrongdoing.”
The U.S. Department of Justice is appealing the settlement on the grounds that the agreement to release the Sacklers from legal liability violates the rights of victims to pursue legal action. Company owners like the Sacklers are generally not granted this broad protection when a company files for bankruptcy.
A U.S. bankruptcy court approved the settlement agreement with Purdue Pharma on September 1, 2021. The settlement agreement would cover thousands of lawsuits brought by state and local governments, tribal nations, hospitals and individuals who have been impacted by the opioid epidemic.
Under the settlement agreement, Purdue Pharma would be dissolved and would pay $4.5 billion over nine years. The Sackler family, which owns the company, would pay an additional $50 million. The company would also release documents relating to its role in fueling sales of Oxycontin, which it knew to be highly addictive, to vulnerable communities. In exchange, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family would not admit to any wrongdoing and the Sacklers would be released from liability for opioid-related lawsuits. The Sacklers are one of the richest families in the world, with a total net worth estimated at $11 billion made almost exclusively from Oxycontin.
End Substance Use Disorder spoke out against the bankruptcy court’s approval of settlement agreement, calling it a miscarriage of justice. The organization had previously objected to the proposed settlement agreement when it was announced on July 8, 2021 and has also responded to the $26 billion settlement proposal with U.S. drug makers and distributors, Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.
End Substance Use Disorder has joined with leading organizations to endorse a set of guiding principles for how states, cities, and counties should use funds received from the opioid litigation. More than 23 million Americans are currently suffering from substance use disorder, and it is vital that the funds from this settlement, if ultimately approved, go towards for prevention, treatment, and recovery supports that are firmly rooted in evidence.