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.
According to an Associated Press report citing unnamed officials within the U.S. Department of Justice, the settlement ”“ which has yet to be officially announced ”“ requires the company to acknowledge impeding U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration probe by falsely claiming it operated a program to avoid drug diversion and reporting incorrect information to the agency in order to boost its manufacturing quotas.
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.
