A federal court on Tuesday sentenced Purdue Pharma to pay more than $5.5 billion in criminal penalties. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA-EFE
A federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Purdue Pharma to pay more than $5 billion in criminal penalties, clearing the way for the OxyContin maker to complete its bankruptcy settlement agreement and resolve thousands of opioid-related lawsuits filed against it by states, local governments, tribes and other plaintiffs.
The sentence, handed down by a federal court in Newark, N.J., comes after Purdue pleaded guilty in October 2020 to charges over its role in the opioid crisis.
Prosecutors said the Sackler family-owned company worsened the crisis that has killed hundreds of thousands across the United States by aggressively marketing its addictive drugs while downplaying the risks of overdose and addiction.
Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against the company over its role in the crisis, and Purdue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2019 as part of an agreement to resolve them.
With Tuesday’s sentence, Purdue can be dissolved and replaced by the public benefit company Knoa Pharma, which will receive the assets and expertise of the old company to produce addiction treatments and overdose-reversal medications.
“Purdue Pharma put profits over patient health and safety,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement announcing the sentence handed down by a federal court in Newark, N.J.
“The company willfully rejected the law and ignored the diversion of their highly addictive prescription drugs.”
About 806,000 people died from an opioid overdose from 1999 to 2023, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Court documents accused Purdue of illegally marketing its opioids from 2007 to 2017, generating billions in profit.
The penalties announced Tuesday include a $3.544 billion criminal fine and an additional $2 billion in criminal forfeiture, though the Justice Department said it will credit up to $1.775 billion against the forfeiture amount based on the value conferred to state, local and tribal governments through its bankruptcy.
“No penalty can undo the widespread devastation Purdue has inflicted, but today’s sentence serves long-overdue accountability for its reckless and unlawful conduct,” Inspector General T. March Bell of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said in a statement.
