When it filed for bankruptcy last year, Purdue Pharma agreed to an innovative plan: It would make $200 million available immediately to help those those harmed by its signature painkiller, OxyContin, and ease the effects of the opioid crisis. More than a year later, with the crisis worsening, not a...
Sackler-Owned Opioid Maker Pushes Overdose Treatment Abroad
The gleaming white booth towered over the medical conference in Italy in October, advertising a new brand of antidote for opioid overdoses. “Be prepared. Get naloxone. Save a life,” the slogan on its walls said. Some conference attendees were stunned when they saw the company logo: Mundipharma, the international affiliate...
AP Exclusive: Colleges Got $60M From OxyContin Family
BOSTON — Prestigious universities around the world have accepted at least $60 million over the past five years from the family that owns the maker of OxyContin, even as the company became embroiled in lawsuits related to the opioid epidemic, financial records show. Some of the donations arrived before recent...
After Bankruptcy Filing, Purdue Pharma May Not Be off Hook
Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy in the first step in a complex, multibillion-dollar plan by the maker of OxyContin to settle thousands of lawsuits brought against it by state and local governments over the nation's deadly opioid disaster. The company and members of the Sackler family, which owns it, expressed...
OxyContin Maker Negotiating Settlement Worth a Reported $12B
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Purdue Pharma and the thousands of state and local governments suing the maker of OxyContin over the nation's deadly opioid crisis are negotiating a $10 billion to $12 billion settlement under which the Sackler family would give up ownership of the company, according to published reports. Under...
OxyContin Maker Negotiating Settlement Worth a Reported $12B
COLUMBUS, Ohio — Purdue Pharma and the thousands of state and local governments suing the maker of OxyContin over the nation's deadly opioid crisis are negotiating a $10 billion to $12 billion settlement under which the Sackler family would give up ownership of the company, according to published reports. Under...
Judge Orders Drugmaker to Pay $572 Million in Opioid Lawsuit
NORMAN, Okla. — An Oklahoma judge on Monday found Johnson & Johnson and its subsidiaries helped fuel the state's opioid crisis and ordered the consumer products giant to pay $572 million, more than twice the amount another drug manufacturer agreed to pay in a settlement. Cleveland County District Judge Thad...
Revamped OxyContin Was Supposed to Reduce Abuse, but Has It?
WASHINGTON — Dr. Raeford Brown was uniquely positioned to help the U.S. government answer a critical question: Is a new version of the painkiller OxyContin helping fight the national opioid epidemic? An expert in pain treatment at the University of Kentucky, Brown led a panel of outside experts advising the...
In Opioid Lawsuits, One State Opts to Stay on the Sidelines
LINCOLN, Neb. — Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson has fought prescription opioid abuse through public education campaigns, worked with lawmakers to tighten up prescribing practices and even demanded documents from the maker of OxyContin. He has said the overdose crisis is ravaging families. What Peterson has not done is pursued...
More States Sue Opioid Maker Alleging Deceptive Marketing
SACRAMENTO — California, Hawaii, Maine and the District of Columbia filed lawsuits Monday against the maker of OxyContin and the company's former president, alleging the firm falsely promoted the drug by downplaying the risk of addiction while it emerged as one of the most widely abused opioids in the U.S....