…to the long, long, sad story of OxyContin and its parent company, Purdue Pharma. From The Guardian:
Purdue Pharma to be dissolved as judge approves criminal sentence in opioid case
OxyContin maker to be replaced by new company aiming to combat opioid crisis as legal settlement takes effect
“Only the company was charged– not individuals.” I’m sure that came as a disappointment to family members of overdose victims, who were no longer around to protest.
“The guilty plea and civil settlement with the federal government included $8.3bn in forfeitures, fines and penalties.” That’s an impressive sum, although most of the money will go to state, local, and tribal governments, to help battle the current opioid epidemic. Individual victims are expected to receive payments in the range of $8-16K.
In view of the damage done, it doesn’t sound like much. “But after all this time we spent waiting, waiting, waiting… at least it’s something,” admitted one mother. I imagine that sentiment was shared by most of the 50,000+ complainants who nevertheless voted in favor of the settlement.
To give us some notion of the sheer scope of legal problems around OxyContin: “A Purdue lawyer said most of the lawsuits against the company over opioids did not include specific financial claims. But the ones in those that did totalled over $40tn in damages.”
That’s forty trillion dollars, folks.
Let’s hope it was worth it for those involved. “The anger itself was poisonous to me. It was destroying my mental health,” remarked one. She badly needed to put the experience behind her, once and for all.
I remember a 12 step sponsor observing that the worst sort of resentment was one that felt justifiable — you really weren’t at fault, you really did have a legitimate reason to be angry. “You have to learn to let those go,” he claimed. “Otherwise they can be killers.”
Now Purdue Pharma is only a memory, but the plan is to replace the company with a new, Swiss-based corporation named Kona Pharma. It will have an independent Board of Directors and a brand new mission: To work towards the betterment of humanity by developing new and innovative medications to treat — you guessed it– addictions.
And yes, the new firm is a for-profit enterprise.
