Purdue said to offer to settle opioid lawsuits

Oxycontin maker Purdue Pharma is proposing a global settlement in an attempt to end state investigations and lawsuits over the U.S. opioid epidemic, according to people familiar with the talks.

Purdue’s lawyers raised the prospect with several southern-state attorneys general who haven’t sued the company, as they try to gauge interest for a more wide-ranging deal, said four people who asked not to be identified because the talks aren’t public.

Opioid makers are accused of creating a public-health crisis through their marketing of the painkillers. More than a dozen states, including Oklahoma, and about 100 counties and cities have already sued Purdue, other opioid makers and drug distributors, in a strategy echoing the litigation that led to the 1998 $246 billion settlement with Big Tobacco.

Oklahoma has not been approached with an offer, according to attorneys involved in the case.

“All they’ve done is fight us,” said Michael Burrage, one of the outside attorneys assisting Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter with the lawsuit.

But early discussions about a possible global settlement would not be unusual.

“This sounds like the opening bid in settlement talks,’’ said Anthony Sabino, who teaches law at St. John’s University in New York. “It also sounds like they are trying to convince some of these state AG’s that they don’t need to bring their own suits.’’

A group of 41 attorneys general are also investigating how companies like Purdue and other opi- oid makers marketed and sold prescription opioids. It’s not clear whether Purdue’s lawyers are authorized to speak for other drugmakers facing opioid suits, but the people familiar with the talks say Purdue’s attorneys are looking for a global accord to include all U.S. states’ claims against all manufacturers.

Robert Josephson, Purdue spokesman, declined to comment on the settlement discussions. The company said earlier that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Oxycontin for use as a painkiller, and approved the safety warnings. Cases focusing on opioids are targeting a government-regulated product, the company said.