New York, New Jersey, Connecticut Refuse To Join Reported Settlement With OxyContin Maker In Opioid Lawsuit
HARTFORD, Conn. (CBSNewYork/AP) — A tentative settlement was announced on Wednesday over the role Purdue Pharma allegedly played in the nation's opioid addiction crisis.
Although 22 states and about 2,000 local governments are said to be part of the multi-billion-dollar agreement, the reported settlement falls short of the national settlement the OxyContin maker had been seeking for months -- as authorities in the Tri-state area refused to sign on to the deal.
MORE: New York To Sue Family Behind OxyContin Production, Marketing
The agreement was made with about half the states involved in litigation against the opioid producer and calls for Purdue to file for a structured bankruptcy and pay as much as $12 billion over time, with about $3 billion coming from the Sackler family -- owners of Purdue Pharma.
That number involves future profits and the value of drugs currently in development.
In addition, the family would have to give up its ownership of the company and contribute another $1.5 billion by selling another of its pharmaceutical companies, Mundipharma.
Several attorneys general said the agreement was a better way to ensure compensation from Purdue and the Sacklers than taking their chances if Purdue files for bankruptcy on its own.
Advocates of the deal cautioned that it's not yet complete.
Opioid addiction has contributed to the deaths of some 400,000 Americans over the past two decades, hitting many rural communities particularly hard.
The lawsuits against Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue paint it as a particular villain in the crisis. They say the company's aggressive marketing of OxyContin downplayed addiction risks and led to more widespread opioid prescribing, even though only a sliver of the opioid painkillers sold in the U.S. were its products.
The tentative agreement and expected bankruptcy filing would remove Purdue from the first federal trial over the opioids epidemic, scheduled to begin next month in Ohio.
In a statement after Wednesday's announcement, the company said that it "continues to work with all plaintiffs on reaching a comprehensive resolution to its opioid litigation that will deliver billions of dollars and vital opioid overdose rescue medicines to communities across the country impacted by the opioid crisis."
Even with Wednesday's development, many states have not signed on. Several state attorneys general vowed to continue their legal battles against the Sacklers and the company in bankruptcy court. Roughly 20 states have sued members of the Sackler family in state courts.
Connecticut, New Jersey, and New York were among the several states saying they were not part of the agreement.
"Our position remains firm and unchanged and nothing for us has changed today," Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said in a statement.
"The scope and scale of the pain, death and destruction that Purdue and the Sacklers have caused far exceeds anything that has been offered thus far," Tong said. "Connecticut's focus is on the victims and their families, and holding Purdue and the Sacklers accountable for the crisis they have caused."
Wednesday's announcement came just days after a group of attorneys general negotiating directly with Purdue and the Sacklers said they had reached an impasse in talks. At the time, several attorneys general said they were not confident Purdue would pay the amount promised and wanted more assurance that the money would come through.
In the latest settlement agreement, New York Attorney General Letitia James accused the Sacklers of "attempting to evade responsibility and lowball the millions of victims of the opioid crisis."
On Wednesday, the Sackler family said in a statement that it "supports working toward a global resolution that directs resources to the patients, families and communities across the country who are suffering and need assistance."
"This is the most effective way to address the urgency of the current public health crisis, and to fund real solutions, not endless litigation," it said.
Some 2,000 lawsuits brought by local governments, Native American tribes, unions and hospitals have been consolidated under a federal judge in Cleveland, who has been encouraging the parties to settle. U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster invited state attorneys general, who had filed their own lawsuits, to lead the negotiations.
How any money from the settlement would be divided among all the entities is not entirely clear.
(© Copyright 2019 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)