Purdue Pharma, the drugmaker accused of fueling the opioid crisis through its aggressive marketing of highly addictive pain pills, is bankrupt and facing thousands of lawsuits in the U.S. Abroad, its global counterparts are selling opioids and still profiting, reports the Washington Post. Among the beneficiaries: some members of the Sackler family, who own Purdue and also sit atop a group of international companies known as Mundipharma. The family faces a wave of litigation over Purdue’s alleged role in an opioid crisis that has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives and ruined countless more. From 2020 to 2022, nine Mundipharma companies in Europe and Australia made profits of $531 million on sales and distribution of pharmaceutical and other products, finds an analysis by journalists in eight countries.
Total profits are probably higher because the figure does not include amounts from Mundipharma companies in jurisdictions that do not require disclosure of financial data. The analysis provides a glimpse into Mundipharma’s value to possible buyers as the Sacklers face a Sept. 27 bankruptcy court deadline that could end mediation meant to determine how much the family could have to pay to settle lawsuits related to the opioid crisis. The Sacklers have pledged to sell their international companies to compensate U.S. cities, states, tribes, victims and others ravaged by the epidemic. Purdue, still sells opioids such as oxycodone, though the company has been saddled with years of investigations, litigation and a massive bankruptcy reorganization.
Some tactics used to persuade a generation of U.S. doctors that potent painkillers could be safely prescribed have been used abroad, the investigation found.
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