New York Attorney General Letitia James and Connecticut Attorney General William Tong on May 1 issued separate announcements marking the shutdown of pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma that was headquartered at 201 Tresser Blvd., One Stamford Forum in Stamford. Purdue’s closing was part of a bankruptcy plan secured by James, Tong and 53 other attorneys general, and other stakeholders. A new public benefit corporation, Knoa Pharma, LLC will begin operating in its place with headquarters at the Stamford address and will be overseen by independent directors and trustees who have no association with Purdue.
Knoa Pharma will be entirely owned by the Knoa Foundation, a newly established nonprofit. All members of the Sackler family, who owned and operated Purdue, will not have any involvement in the new company.
According to James, Knoa Pharma will manufacture medications, including opioid products, safely and responsibly to address public health needs. It will be subject to strict oversight by an independent monitor and will be barred from lobbying and advertising its opioid products. After operating expenses, Knoa Pharma’s excess revenue will be dispersed to state, local, and tribal governments and to the Knoa Foundation in support of opioid abatement.
The end of Purdue is part of a $7.4 billion settlement that involved members of the Sackler family. In the first payment, Purdue will pay approximately $900 million and the Sacklers will pay $1.5 billion. The Sacklers will then pay $500 million in May of 2027, an additional $500 million in May of 2028, and $400 million in May of 2029. The settlement will deliver funding directly to communities across the country over the next 15 years to support opioid addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery programs and ends the Sacklers’ control of Purdue.
Connecticut is expected to receive $64 million from the settlement, according to Tong. It’s been estimated that New York will receive up to $250 million from the settlement.
Tong said, “As of today, Purdue and the Sackler Family are permanently exiled from the addiction industry. Billions of dollars of their blood money will now begin to flow towards treatment and prevention and support for the victims and survivors of the opioid epidemic infamously inflamed by their callous greed. We expect — and will aggressively monitor to ensure — that the new entity emerging today will follow all laws and place human lives above profits.”
James explained, “This company that put profits over people for decades is now shut down forever. In its place, Knoa Pharma will provide resources to communities to combat the opioid crisis. While nothing will ever fully repair the damage done and lives lost to the opioid crisis, ending Purdue’s operations is an important step toward justice.”
