Purdue Pharma, the Stamford-headquartered company whose prescription painkiller OxyContin is at the center of the opioid crisis, has agreed to plead guilty to three federal criminal charges as part of a settlement of more than $8 billion.
Purdue Pharma will also acknowledge that it violated federal anti-kickback laws by using a speaking program to pay doctors to write more prescriptions for the company”™s opioids. The company will also admit to using electronic health records software to influence the prescription of pain medication. according to the officials.
Purdue Pharma will make a direct payment to the federal government of $225 million, which is part of a larger $2 billion criminal forfeiture, and it will also agree to $2.8 billion in damages to resolve its civil liability. Purdue also faces a $3.54 billion criminal fine, although the Associated Press reports that money probably will not be fully collected because it will be taken through a bankruptcy.
The settlement does not release the company”™s executives or owners from criminal liability. Purdue Pharma would be transitioned into a public benefit company and the Sackler family, which founded and the company, would no longer have any involvement in its leadership.