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OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is expected to file for bankruptcy after settlement talks over the nation's deadly overdose crisis hit an impasse, attorneys general involved in the talks said Saturday.
The breakdown puts the first federal trial over the opioid epidemic on track to begin next month, likely without Purdue, and sets the stage for a complex legal drama involving nearly every state and hundreds of local governments.
Purdue, the family that owns the company and a group of state attorneys general had been trying for months to find a way to avoid trial and determine Purdue's responsibility for a crisis that has cost 400,000 American lives over the past two decades.
An email from the attorneys general of Tennessee and North Carolina, obtained by The Associated Press, said that Purdue and the Sackler family had rejected two offers from the states over how payments under any settlement would be handled and that the family declined to offer counterproposals.
"As a result, the negotiations are at an impasse, and we expect Purdue to file for bankruptcy protection imminently," Tennessee Attorney General Herbert Slatery and North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein wrote in their message, which was sent to update attorneys general throughout the country on the status of the talks.
[...] The impasse in the talks comes about six weeks before the scheduled start of the first federal trial under the Cleveland litigation, overseen by U.S. District Judge Dan Polster. That trial will hear claims about the toll the opioid epidemic has taken on two Ohio counties, Cuyahoga and Summit.
A bankruptcy filing by Purdue would most certainly remove the company from that trial.
The bankruptcy judge would have wide discretion on how to proceed. That could include allowing the claims against other drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies to move ahead while Purdue's cases are handled separately. Three other manufacturers have already settled with the two Ohio counties to avoid the initial trial.
-- submitted from IRC
(Score: 4, Insightful) by c0lo on Tuesday September 10 2019, @03:02AM (2 children)
Now you need WikiLeaks for someone to leak another batch of 'fiscal-paradise papers'.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 10 2019, @04:03AM (1 child)
What good does that do? Nobody gives a shit.
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday September 10 2019, @04:27AM
You have a point here. I don't know what good that would do, but we'll never learn if it doesn't happen.
On the other side, what bad would it do if it happens?
Ummm... some might; and even more than a shit.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @03:18AM
I trust these corporations to safely and effectively vaxxinate me!!!
(Score: 3, Disagree) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 10 2019, @03:46AM (9 children)
I want to see Purdue's (the company) assets auctioned off to the highest bidders. Then I want to see Purdue's (the family) assets auctioned off to the highest bidders. And, I want to see the Sackler's assets auctioned off the same way.
Yeah, I do understand that corporations are created to protect the owners and investors if the company goes belly up. But, criminal intent, lying to congress, and an utter disregard for human life seems to trump all of those intents of corporate protections. Burn 'em, and make an example of them.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @04:02AM (3 children)
These are job creators you're talking about. Are you off your meds?
(Score: 5, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 10 2019, @04:15AM (2 children)
No - small businesses are job creators. Big corporations are job eliminators.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 3, Funny) by EJ on Tuesday September 10 2019, @05:00AM (1 child)
Yeah. Mom and Pop pharmaceutical companies are awesome. The police call them meth labs.
(Score: 3, Touché) by c0lo on Tuesday September 10 2019, @05:51AM
They do produce something. At home, in US.
And then... they don't export the capital overseas and don't get govt subsidies or tax breaks.
So, why do you object to them? (grin)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 4, Informative) by bzipitidoo on Tuesday September 10 2019, @05:01AM
Yeah, my first thought was that the bankruptcy was a sham. Sure, the company is dead. But the owners skate. That's S.O.P. in the mining business. Dig up a whole lot of rock, siphon off the small percentage that's worth something and cash in on that, making sure none of the profit goes to the mining company, clog a nearby stream with tailings that will leach pollution downstream for the next century, and declare bankruptcy before anyone can come calling with a bill for the cleanup. Someone has to clean up the mess, and it won't be them. The public gets stuck with the problem.
Since the War on Drugs is still hot, despite the effective removal of marijuana from the list of illegal substances, the Sacklers ought to be facing a whole host of lawsuits and criminal trials for peddling addictive drugs, same as a leader of a drug cartel that distributes cocaine or opium.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @11:54AM (2 children)
Remember that you said that the next time you're in the hospital with a broken back, an amputation, any sort of deep surgery, or a heart attack for that matter.
Yes, the company did wrong with the way they advised their products be used and more. No, not every prescription for opioids was wrong. And what's happening here has already made physicians much more fearful of giving strong pain medication even when it is indicated, and will do nothing but drive the prices of the drugs up further. Making them harder to obtain sounds like a good thing until it's you lying in a postop bed.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday September 10 2019, @12:08PM
We should probably keep a few things in mind. Opioids have been around, and in more or less common use, much longer than Purdue has existed. Opioids have been pretty strictly controlled for at least the past 80 years. Purdue is directly responsible for false statements made to congress, and then widely circulated throughout the legal and medical professions. Those false statements have influenced lawmakers and physicians alike, resulting in the opioid crisis we see today.
Physicians who have been negligent in their prescriptions should be wary of writing more negligent prescriptions. And, regulators should be watching for physician negligence.
We need to be somewhere close to conditions in the 1990's. Stuff was available, but you couldn't just wheedle it out of a doctor, because you had a common headache. Stepping away from being active pushers is most certainly not a bad thing.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday September 10 2019, @04:05PM
Keep in mind that it's much easier for the prescribing doctor to control your access to such medications when you're lying in a postop bed.
Also, how much of Purdue's production went to drug abuse? It looks like illegal use was a important part of their business model and that they pursued strategies for increasing that illegal consumption.
(Score: 3, Funny) by HiThere on Tuesday September 10 2019, @07:59PM
Technically, if you own more than 10%? 20%? (some particular number in that range.) of the stock you are liable for the misdeeds of the corporation. This doesn't mean that particular part of the law is always enforced, but it can be.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by fustakrakich on Tuesday September 10 2019, @04:11AM
Who are these people? The Taliban?
There should be indictments, not dialog!
The corruption is really getting thick, just a little too obvious... and still, they will win
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Barenflimski on Tuesday September 10 2019, @05:02AM (9 children)
What Purdue and the rest did wasn't right but I think this misses the point. People do drugs for their mental health. People are lonely and bored with not a lot of options. When people become lonely and there is nothing else to do but watch TV, they do drugs en masse. Does bankrupting Purdue help the people?
These types of lawsuits don't end up accomplishing much. Some lawyers will get name recognition. A lot of money will trade hands by politicians, governments and corporations. Some new laws will be made. A few DA's will be promoted. Everyone involved will talk about what they did to solve the Opiate crisis. A very small amount of this money will actually go to helping anyone directly.
If I am to believe this is to help the people, I expect drug treatment houses will spring up every mile through West Virginia and Ohio providing free care until these addictions are undone. We all know that isn't going to happen. What will happen is the money will be handed over to the governments. People will be told they are drug addicts and that by relying on the states for money and support they are terrible people. Medications will be more expensive and there will be one less player in the already corrupt drug market. In the end the people still alive still lose.
(Score: 2) by c0lo on Tuesday September 10 2019, @06:05AM (2 children)
Say... what? Who the fuck needs TV today?
Even the very existence of the incel masses disproves you, they did find a way of life that doesn't involve physical presence; if they can be alone without being lonely, so can others.
Can have HD porn streamed without effort.
Have heaps of free-to-play games.
Have heaps of forums to troll and heaps of decent people to doxx and SWAT. And you can find nutjobs on the Internet for any and all style of nuttyness, flat-earthers and alt-right included.
You can express your cavernous** existence on Twitter and YouTube and Instagram and... and still get some income from ads.
Worse come to worst, you can go school-shooting and stream your 30 minutes of fame on the internet and you'll still generate interest.
(large grin)
---
*** that's worse than empty
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0 https://soylentnews.org/~MichaelDavidCrawford
(Score: 2) by Immerman on Tuesday September 10 2019, @01:46PM (1 child)
Um, I think the whole point of the involuntary part of "incel" is that they *can't* be alone without being lonely...
Plenty of people can't get laid, but I've only ever heard the incel moniker pointed at the ones who are vocally bitter about the situation.
(Score: 2) by HiThere on Tuesday September 10 2019, @08:01PM
Actually, I don't think "incel" has a well defined meaning, and I heard it used for someone with only the justification that the speaker (well, writer) didn't like them.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @07:09AM (4 children)
Some of us do drugs for our physical health. As in the kind where the doctor looks at the x-rays and says, "Yeah, that's almost bone on bone. How are you still walking?" and I reply, "the hydrocodone really does help, Doc." Of course, I don't get any of that horrible horrible life-permitting stuff anymore.
Soon I'll probably be using the medical marijuana. Since every pot smoker I ever met was a, well, pothead (that is, moron), I suppose I'll soon have to send back my Mensa card. At least maybe I'll finally start to fit in down at the Walmart once my brain dies.
I know you're all tired of my AC bitching about this. Soon I'll be too stupid to type and you won't have to read about it anymore.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @11:19AM (1 child)
And then out of desperation you turn to hypnosis and discover you can teach your brain to ignore the pain signals. Then you attempt to rebuild your life while hating the medical industry. A few months of $100 sessions or a life long drug additction with side effects. Your choice.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday September 11 2019, @05:37AM
I'm teaching my brain to ignore stupid posts but it won't stick. Any suggestions?
(Score: 3, Insightful) by Rupert Pupnick on Tuesday September 10 2019, @05:19PM
Seriously? I think you might be overreacting a bit.
Has every non-pot smoker you've ever met been someone who completely abstains from cannabis?
How could you tell without asking?
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday September 10 2019, @05:58PM
Yes, you'll become a walking stereotype as soon as you touch the devil's lettuce.
Or maybe you're just becoming a senile old man and that's why you need help to eat jello.
(Score: 4, Informative) by barbara hudson on Tuesday September 10 2019, @07:31PM
It's never been shown that drugs help depression, despite their use for 60 years. The UN has recommended that people stop that shit of medicalizing depression.
It's time we realize that people will be depressed when their lives go to shit, and drugging their brains so it doesn't bother them so much doesn't fix the underlying problems, which are almost always socio-economic in nature.
If antidepressants cured depression, we wouldn't have more than 10% of the world's adult population on them, and on a treadmill of ever-increasing doses and changes in drug cocktails.
The whole "dopamine-serotonin" link has never been proven. People with naturally low levels of serotonin in the brain aren't depressed. It's a fairy tail, and people are getting permanently fucked up by it, same as Oxycontin.
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