The American drug manufacturer Purdue Pharma is heading for bankruptcy. The attorney general of the states of Tennessee and North Carolina have spoken against this expectation against American media. According to them, talks about a major settlement of the opiate crisis in the United States have stalled.
Purdue, the creator of the very strong painkiller OxyContin, has been trying for a while to reach a settlement in more than 2000 lawsuits. The pharmaceutical giant is said to have lost 10 to 12 billion dollars. But according to the two justice heads, Purdue and the Sackler owner family could not provide enough assurance that the money would actually be available.
They have therefore started preparations for bankruptcy. “We want to make sure that the Sacklers, Purdue and other pharmaceutical companies pay for rehab treatments and other solutions for the mess that we think we have created,” write the two attorneys general.
In the US, 130 people die every day from an overdose of a morphine-like painkiller. OxyContin is seen as the drug that started the American addiction crisis.
The lawsuits against Purdue have been filed by cities, hospitals, trade unions and Indian tribes, among others. Such processes are also ongoing against other pharmaceutical companies.
Maurice Esma, a co-founder of EconomicInform is a freelance journalist with the expertise in international finance and corporate rights. The author can be reached by email maurice.eisma@economicinform.com
