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NEWS OCTOBER 26, 2020 ¦ 19

AGs Will Continue Pursuit of Purdue

By Robert Storace

The U.S. Department of Justice announced
Wednesday it had closed criminal and civil
investigations with Stamford-based Purdue
Pharma and that the company had agreed to plead
guilty to three federal criminal charges and pay
more than $8 billion.
The resolution with the Big Pharma company,
which has been under scrutiny from the federal gov-
ernment and dozens of attorneys general for how it
marketed opioids, specifically OxyContin, is subject
to the approval of a bankruptcy court.
The company pleaded guilty to dual-object con- OxyContin pills.

spiracy to defraud the United States and to violate Photo: PureRadiance/Shutterstock.com

the Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act; conspiracy to vi- July 2018. “Resolving the DOJ investigations is an
olate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute related to essential step in our bankruptcy process. The settle-
Purdue’s payments to health care providers; and a ment agreement will pave the way for Purdue to
conspiracy to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute re- submit a plan of reorganization to the bankruptcy
lated to Purdue’s payments to Practice Fusion, a court that will transfer all of Purdue’s assets to a
cloud-based electronic health records platform. public benefit company, and ultimately deliver more
State attorneys general, though, said not so fast, than $10 billion in value to claimants and communi-
and criticized the agreement for not going far ties.”
enough. The settlement comes just one week after attor-
“This settlement provides a mere mirage of jus- neys general from the District of Columbia and 24
tice for the victims of Purdue’s callous misconduct. states, including Connecticut, New York, New Jer-
The federal government had the power here to put sey and California, sent a letter to U.S. Attorney
the Sacklers [owners of the company] in jail, and General William Barr urging him not to finalize the
they didn’t,” Connecticut Attorney General William proposal.
Tong said. “Instead, they took fines and penalties One major bone of contention for the states was
that Purdue likely will never fully pay. … Preserv- the company’s ability to continue OxyContin sales
ing Purdue’s ability to continue selling opioids as a as a public trust corporation.
public benefit corporation is simply unacceptable. “They can continue to do what they are doing
The timing of this agreement mere weeks before the with some changes and a different name and struc-
election raises serious questions about whether DOJ ture,” Tong said.
leadership was negotiating in the best interest of the New York Attorney General Letitia James was
American public.” among the critics who vowed to continue their liti-
In a statement on its website, the company said it gation against the company, despite Wednesday’s
takes responsibility for its actions. announcement.
“Purdue deeply regrets and accepts responsibility “Today’s deal doesn’t account for the hundreds of
for the misconduct detailed by the Department of thousands of deaths or millions of addictions caused
Justice in the agreed statements of fact,” said Steve by Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family,” James
Miller, who joined Purdue’s board as chairman in
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