Sacklers Could Emerge From Opioid Settlements With Personal Fortune Largely Intact

There are talks that Purdue Pharma could be close to a $10 billion-$12 billion settlement in a consolidated court case centered on what role drugmakers played in the opioid epidemic. The Sackler family in particular has provoked public outrage as details of its involvement in Purdue's marketing techniques during the birth of the crisis continue to emerge. Although the family would pony up $3 billion of its own fortune in the settlement, they'd likely hold onto most of their money. “No one is going to be happy after this,” said Adam J. Levitin, a Georgetown Law School professor who studies bankruptcy. “People are going to be mad that the Sacklers aren’t going to jail, that they will have money left.”

The Washington Post: Sacklers Could Hold On To Most Of Personal Fortune In Proposed Purdue Settlement

The Sackler family, which grew into one of the nation’s wealthiest dynasties through sales of the widely abused painkiller OxyContin, could emerge from a legal settlement under negotiation with its personal fortunes largely intact, according to an analysis reviewed by The Washington Post and people familiar with the discussions. Under a novel plan to relinquish control of their company, Purdue Pharma, and resurrect it as a trust whose main purpose would be to combat the opioid epidemic, the Sacklers could raise most, if not all, of their personal share of the $10 billion to $12 billion agreement by selling their international drug conglomerate, Mundipharma, according to the documents and those close to the talks. (Bernstein, Davis, Rowland and Merle, 8/31)

The New York Times: Sacklers Vs. States: Settlement Talks Stumble Over Foreign Business

Purdue Pharma’s negotiations to settle thousands of lawsuits over the company’s role in the opioids crisis have turned into a standoff between members of the Sackler family, who own the company, and a group of state attorneys general over how much the family should pay and whether it can continue selling drugs abroad. The Sacklers are deep in negotiations that, if finalized, would force them to give up ownership of Purdue, the company widely blamed for the onset of the opioid epidemic with its aggressive marketing of the prescription painkiller OxyContin. But they want to keep selling OxyContin and other drugs abroad for as many as seven more years, through another company they own, Mundipharma, based in Cambridge, England. (Goldstein, Hakim and Hoffman, 8/30)

Meanwhile —

The Washington Post: Ohio Attorney General Sues To Stop Upcoming Opioid Trials

Upcoming trials seen as test cases for forcing drugmakers to pay for societal damage inflicted by the opioid epidemic should be delayed until Ohio’s own lawsuits against the drugmakers can be heard, Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost argued in a lawsuit. Yost, a Republican, said attempts to force drugmakers to pay should come in a single state action to allow equal distribution of money across Ohio. His lawsuit, filed Friday in federal appeals court in Cincinnati, comes amidst urgent negotiations over a potentially massive settlement between drugmakers and thousands of communities across the country. (Welsh-Huggins, 9/1)

The Wall Street Journal: Ohio Attorney General Seeks Delay Of Landmark Opioid Trial

Virtually every state has filed a lawsuit in the past two years, along with some 2,000 cities, counties and Native American tribes, alleging players in the pharmaceutical supply chain are to blame for fueling widespread opioid addiction. The situation has been particularly fractious in Ohio. Friday’s filing argues if the two counties are allowed to take their cases to trial, it “would fragment the State’s claims, pose a high risk of inconsistent verdicts, result in duplicative or overlapping damages, and misallocate funds in the State.” (Randazzo, 8/30)

The Wall Street Journal: Allergan To Pay $5 Million To Settle Ohio Opioid Suit

Allergan said it agreed to pay $5 million to settle its part of a landmark federal opioid trial slated to begin in Cleveland in October. The Dublin-based pharmaceuticals company said it would pay $1.9 million to Summit County, Ohio, and $3.1 million to Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the two plaintiffs whose claims were chosen to serve as bellwethers in sprawling litigation over the opioid epidemic. Pharmaceutical company Endo International PLC earlier this month reached a $10 million settlement with the counties in the litigation. (Kellaher, 9/30)

This is part of the KHN Morning Briefing, a summary of health policy coverage from major news organizations. Sign up for an email subscription