Enlarge image
Pill box with painkillers: billions to avoid prosecution
Photo: Mark Lennihan / AP
The US pharmaceutical company Johnson and Johnson (J&J) and three US drug wholesalers are pushing a $ 26 billion settlement to settle thousands of lawsuits over their role in the opioid crisis.
J&J and the pharmaceutical distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen announced on Saturday (US local time) that there was sufficient support among the US states for the agreement.
That was a condition for the settlement reached in July to be implemented.
According to this, the pharmaceutical distributors together pay $ 21 billion, J&J $ 5 billion over several years.
The first installments are due by the end of September.
Enlarge image
Photo: ERIC BARADAT / AFP
Between 1999 and 2019, approximately 500,000 people in the United States were killed from overdoses of prescription pain relievers and illicit drugs.
More than 3,000 lawsuits have been filed because of this.
In it, J&J is accused of overestimating the benefits of opioids and downplaying the risks.
The wholesalers are accused of a lack of controls, which are said to have led to the massive distribution of painkillers through illegal channels.
The dealers and J&J deny any wrongdoing.
The companies had initially negotiated the settlement with 14 states.
According to the pharmaceutical dealers, there are now 42 states, five territories and Washington DC on board.
Pharmaceutical distributors should be given 18 years to pay, and J&J nine years.
Among other things, aid programs are to be financed with the money.
The companies would escape further prosecution through the compromise.
Oxycontin maker Purdue is shattered
The pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma presented an insolvency plan on Thursday.
The company is said to be broken up in the course of the affair surrounding the massive prescription of opiate painkillers.
The Sackler family, who built Purdue Pharma into a large corporation, has had to pay $ 4.5 billion to settle the numerous lawsuits related to the sale of opioids.
"Purdue will cease to exist," announced the company.
The entire company assets will be transferred to a newly founded company.
The pharmaceutical company had admitted violations of the law in the production and distribution of its drug Oxycontin.
Washington Attorney General Bob Ferguson announced, however, that he would challenge the bankruptcy plan because it grants the founding Sackler family "permanent immunity in exchange for a fraction of the profits they made from the opioid epidemic."
This gives the impression that billionaires "have different rules than everyone else," Ferguson said.
The settlement between J&J, the dealers and their plaintiffs has yet to be approved by the local authorities.
By January 2, they would have to sign that they would not be prosecuted.
After that deadline, the companies will decide whether to accept the deal.
feb / Reuters / AP / AFP
