OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma pleads guilty in criminal case
PURDUE PHARMA pleaded guilty yesterday to three criminal charges, formally taking responsibility for its part in an opioid epidemic that has contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths, but also angering critics who want to see individuals held accountable, in addition to the company.
In a virtual hearing with a federal judge in Newark, New Jersey, the OxyContin maker admitted impeding the US Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) efforts to combat the addiction crisis.
Purdue acknowledged that it had not maintained an effective programme to prevent prescription drugs from being diverted to the black market, even though it had told the DEA it did have such a programme, and that it provided misleading information t o t he agency as a way to boost company manufacturing quotas.
It also admitted paying doctors through a speakers’ programme to induce them to write more prescriptions for its painkillers.
And it admitted paying an electronic medical records company to send doctors information on patients that encouraged them to prescribe opioids.
The guilty pleas were entered by Purdue board Chairperson Steve Miller on behalf of the company. They were part of a criminal and civil settlement announced last month between the Stamford, Connecticut-based company and the Justice Department.
The deal includes $8.3 billion in penalties and forfeitures, but the company is on the hook for a direct payment to the federal government of only a fraction of that, $225 million. It would pay
the smaller amount as long as it executes a settlement moving through federal bankruptcy court, with state and local governments and other entities suing it over the toll of the opioid epidemic.
Members of the wealthy Sackler family, who own the company, have also agreed to pay $225 million to the federal government to settle civil claims. No criminal charges have been filed against family members, although their deal leaves open the possibility of that in the future.
Purdue’s plea to federal crimes provides only minor comfort for advocates who want to see harsher penalties for the OxyContin maker and its owners.
The ongoing drug overdose crisis, which appears to be worsening during the coronavirus pandemic, has contributed to the deaths of more than 470,000 Americans over the past two decades, most of those from opioids, both legal and illicit.