Bottles of prescription painkiller OxyContin pills, made by Purdue Pharma LP sit on a counter at a local pharmacy in Provo, Utah, U.S., April 25, 2017.The wealthy owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma started taking far more money out of the company after it was fined for misleading marketing of the powerful prescription painkiller.
The Sacklers’ wealth has received intense scrutiny from Healey and 23 other states attorneys general who are objecting to a plan to settle some 2,700 lawsuits against Purdue over the toll of opioids, including those filed by nearly every state. In a statement Monday, Daniel Connolly, a lawyer for one branch of the Sackler family, said it’s not helpful to argue over how much family members received. “The Sackler family hopes to reach a productive resolution where they contribute Purdue for the public benefit and provide at least $3 billion of additional money to help communities and people who need help now,” he said, “which makes more sense for everyone than continuing litigation that only squander resources.
Federal data made public earlier this year showed that OxyContin sales grew even after the fine. And the death toll from opioids, a class of drug that includes prescription painkillers as well as heroin and illicitly made fentanyl, rose, too, peaking in 2017.
globebusiness They thought the fine was going to be larger than it was... sick...