OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma to plead guilty to federal criminal charges, pay $8 billion,+ reorganize the company

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Oxycotin was released in 1995, was extremely helpful in controlling my Hospice  + Palliative care cancer patients pain.  Purdue sponsored many education sessions, zoomed up marketing calls expanding drug use to many other painful conditions -some prescribed inappropriately, then marketing greed took over IMHO.  Family owners walked away with millions.  Karen

CNN Business    10/21/2020

OxyContin maker to plead guilty to federal criminal charges, pay $8 billion, and will close the company
 

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Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, has agreed to plead guilty to three federal criminal charges for its role in creating the nation's opioid crisis and will pay more than $8 billion and close down the company.

The money will go to opioid treatment and abatement programs. The privately held company has agreed to pay a $3.5 billion fine as well as forfeit an additional $2 billion in past profits, in addition to the $2.8 billion it agreed to pay in civil liability.

"Purdue Pharma actively thwarted the United States' efforts to ensure compliance and prevent diversion," said Drug Enforcement Administration Assistant Administrator Tim McDermott. "The devastating ripple effect of Purdue's actions left lives lost and others addicted."

The company doesn't have $8 billion in cash available to pay the fines. So Purdue will be dissolved as part of the settlement, and its assets will be used to create a new "public benefit company" controlled by a trust or similar entity designed for the benefit of the American public. The Justice Department said it will function entirely in the public interest rather than to maximize profits. It's future earnings will go to paying the fines and penalties, which in turn will be used to combat the opioid crisis.

That new company will continue to produce painkillers such as OxyContin, as well as drugs to deal with opioid overdose. Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, who announced the settlement, defended the plans for the new company to continue to sell that drug, saying there are legitimate uses for painkillers such as OxyContin.

The plan is for the company to make life-saving overdose rescue drugs and medically assisted treatment medications available at steep discounts to communities dealing with the opioid crisis....

 

 

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Hummm just found this article.  Purdue Pharma's penalty should go to these efforts. Karen

ABC News October 21, 2020, 7

Worsening opioid crisis overshadowed in presidential race

...After a one-year drop in 2018, U.S. opioid overdose deaths increased again in 2019, topping 50,000 for the first time, according to provisional data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That accounted for the majority of the 71,000 fatal overdoses from all drugs. While national data isn’t available for most of 2020, The Associated Press surveyed individual states that are reporting overdoses and found more drug-related deaths amid the coronavirus pandemic.

Ohio, a battleground state in the presidential contest, is on track to have one of its deadliest years of opioid drug overdoses. More residents died of overdoses in May than in any month in at least 14 years, according to preliminary mortality statistics from the state health department.

As Trump nears the end of his first term, some supporters, including Urban, feel left behind by his administration's drug policies....

...In 2017, Trump became the first president to declare the opioid crisis a national health emergency. In 2018, he signed a bill increasing federal opioid funding to record levels. A Bipartisan Policy Center study found that opioid-specific federal funding more than doubled in Trump’s first full year in office. As part of that, federal treatment and recovery money increased fourfold.

But with a shortage of medical professionals, states have not been able to spend their entire allocations, and some worry that grants lasting just a year or two will not be sustainable, the report found.

The Trump administration continues to advance federal funding for opioid response efforts, requesting $1.5 billion more for state grants in the current fiscal year and prioritizing prevention education, treatment and law enforcement efforts, his campaign said in a statement to The Associated Press....