Opioid maker Mallinckrodt to pay $1.6 billion in fines

Connecticut’s Attorney General William Tong announced Monday that the generic opioid manufacturer Mallinckrodt has agreed to a $1.6 billion settlement to resolve a host of lawsuits that arose in response to tens of thousands of deadly opioid overdoses nationwide fueled, in part, by prescription drugs.

Exactly how the money will be distributed remains under negotiation, Tong said, but the settlement and pressures from the COVID-19 pandemic led the drug maker, one of the largest supplier of generic opioids, to file bankruptcy this week.

Mallinckrodt is the nation’s highest volume manufacturer of generic opioids.

“For years, they balanced their business on the backs of a product they knew was dangerous and deadly, Tong said. “As Mallinckrodt now collapses and files for bankruptcy, this agreement ensures $1.6 billion will be placed in a trust and used to directly address the pain, suffering and trauma caused by the opioid epidemic.”