Purdue’s plan is to set up a trust similar to those used by asbestos companies, such as Halliburton Co. and W.R. Grace & Co., to deal with waves of litigation over the cancer-causing building material. The trust, which can operate for 20 years or more, oversees settlement payouts to creditors, which in Purdue’s case would be states, cities and counties.
Purdue is seeking a global opioid settlement to avoid facing a jury in Cleveland next month in the first federal trial over the causes of and responsibility for the opioid epidemic. A deal and bankruptcy filing would mean Purdue wouldn’t have to defend itself in that case or any of the other opioid suits. The trial will focus on municipalities’ claims Purdue and other drugmakers fueled an opioid crisis that kills more than 100 Americans daily.
The states and municipalities contend opioid makers, like Purdue and Johnson & Johnson, along with drug distributors such as McKesson Corp and Cardinal Health Inc., of conducting illegal marketing campaigns, failing to adequately oversee orders, and ignoring red-flags about unusually frequent retail sales.
Almost 400,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the U.S. from 1999 to 2017, according to the U.S. Centers for Diseases Control and Prevention. While fatalities from prescription pills have leveled off, deaths from illegal heroin and synthetic opioids have skyrocketed.
The case is In Re National Prescription Opioid Litigation, 17-md-2804, U.S. District Court, Northern District of Ohio (Cleveland).
This article was provided by Bloomberg News.