OxyContin maker pleads guilty in opioid criminal case

Purdue Pharma pleaded guilty Tuesday to three criminal charges, formally admitting its role in an opioid crisis that has contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths over the past two decades.

In a virtual hearing with a federal judge in Newark, N.J., the OxyContin maker admitted impeding the U. S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s efforts to combat the addiction crisis. Purdue acknowledged that it had not maintained an effective program to prevent prescription drugs from being diverted to the black market, even though it had told the DEA it did have such a program, and it provided misleading information to the agency as a way to boost company manufacturing quotas.

It also admitted paying doctors through a speakers program 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 Chairman Steve Miller on behalf of the company. They were part of a criminal and civil settlement announced last month between the Stamford, Conn.-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 crisis.