The maker of a well-known prescription painkiller pleaded guilty in November to three criminal charges, in a virtual hearing with a federal judge in Newark, N.J., as part of a criminal and civil settlement between Purdue and the Justice Department. The company made numerous admissions during the hearing, including that it hindered efforts by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to combat the addiction crisis.
The company has acknowledged that:
- It had informed the DEA it maintained a program to prevent the diversion of prescription drugs to the illicit market when it had not effectively maintained such a program.
- It provided the DEA with misleading information to boost the company’s production quotas.
- It had compensated doctors through a speakers program to incentivize them to prescribe more prescription painkiller medications.
- It compensated an electronic medical records company to send patient data to doctors to encourage them to prescribe prescription painkillers
The settlement includes $8.3 billion in penalties and forfeitures. The company will pay a smaller amount of $225 million directly to the federal government as long as it completes a settlement pending in federal bankruptcy court with numerous entities. State and local governments have also sued the company for its role in the prescription drug epidemic. As part of the bankruptcy settlement, the company has proposed transforming into a public benefit corporation, using its proceeds to combat the prescription drug crisis. Members of the family owning the company have also agreed to pay $225 million to the federal government to settle civil claim.
Advocates, state attorneys general, and family members of individuals affected by prescription painkillers express dissatisfaction with the company’s admission. Critics of the federal settlement had hoped that company employees and the owning family members would face individual penalties, including prison time.
According to the CDC, 128 people a day die in the United States after overdosing on prescription painkillers. Misuse of prescription painkillers in the United States is estimated to have an economic burden of $78.5 billion a year, which includes healthcare costs, law enforcement, lost productivity, and addiction treatment.
The company made its admissions amid renewed concern about misuse and overdoses of prescription painkillers. Data from the CDC that deaths from these medications dropped 4.6 percent during a 12-month period in 2017 and 2018. However, in March 2020, the CDC reported that death rates involving prescription painkiller overdoses decreased by 13.5 percent.
During the COVID-19 public health emergency, however, addiction and mental illness rates have increased. U.S. lawmakers and healthcare providers have reported increases in overdoses and deaths associated with prescription painkillers and other drugs. In some areas, misuse of prescription drugs is still on the decline.
Research has found an increased rate of overdoses in areas where automotive assembly plants have closed. The ongoing financial difficulties during the pandemic could lead to further overdoses.
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