The company that makes the prescription painkiller OxyContin would be transformed into a new entity that would funnel profits into combatting the U.S. opioid crisis under a $10 billion plan submitted to a federal bankruptcy judge late Monday.
Members of the Sackler family who own Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma would pay more than $4 billion over the next nine years to resolve various civil claims.
Individual victims, state and local governments, and Native American tribes would be in line for payments under the 300-page restructuring plan.
Attorneys general for nearly half the states say the plan “falls short of the accountability that families and survivors deserve." In ajoint statement, they demanded Purdue Pharma admit to its role in creating the crisis.
They want more money from the Sacklers, among other changes.
Between 1999 and 2009, the CDC estimates 450,000 Americans died from overdoses involving opioids, including prescription and illegally-obtained drugs.
According to three federal criminal charges the company pleaded guilty to in November, Purdue allegedly paid doctors to write more opioid prescriptions. The Sackler family made a fortune from the sales of Oxycontin.
A hearing on the plan is scheduled for April 21.
