Protagonist US opiate crisis reaches $ 8 billion settlement

Posted 3 years ago in topic Healthcare

Purdue Pharma, a major driver of the opiate crisis in the US, has reached a settlement of more than $ 8 billion (6.7 billion euros) with the US Department of Justice, the department announced on Wednesday. The company has also pleaded guilty to the case.

In the United States, many people have become addicted to painkillers. Hundreds of thousands of them have died in recent decades as a result of overuse of these agents, including OxyContin marketed by Purdue Pharma.

The company has been involved in thousands of lawsuits and filed for bankruptcy protection last year. It has now become known that the group has reached a settlement of $ 8.34 billion, writes the American business newspaper Wall Street Journal.

The use of the painkillers led to a "national tragedy of addiction and death," the ministry said. "Purdue, through greed and breaking the law, has given more priority to money than to the health and wellbeing of its patients." The fines imposed are among the largest a drug manufacturer has ever received, according to the ministry.

Just because Purdue has reached a settlement doesn't mean the company has gotten rid of the lawsuits. These could cost the company billions of dollars in the coming years.

The drug company has made about $ 35 billion on the drug since the introduction of OxyContin in the 1990s. The company has been asked about the pain reliever from the start.

Source: Nu.nl