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US opioid crisis: OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma could pay US$12 billion to settle lawsuits
- Purdue Pharma is among several drugmakers and distributors that have been sued for fuelling an opioid addiction crisis in the United States
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The US pharmaceutical industry faces tens of billions of dollars in potential damage payments for fuelling the opioid addiction crisis after Oklahoma won a US$572 million judgement against drugmaker Johnson & Johnson.
One day after the healthcare giant was found guilty of flooding the market with highly addictive painkillers, another top opioid producer, Purdue Pharma, was reported to have offered US$10-US$12 billion to settle more lawsuits before they come to trial.
Dozens more companies in the US prescription drugs chain - giants like Teva Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Mallinckrodt, Walmart, CVS and Walgreens Boots - could face similarly large payouts as the next major opioids case gears up in Ohio.
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Nearly 2,300 lawsuits similar to Oklahoma’s have been rolled into one trial to begin in October.
The case has drawn comparison to the US$206 billion the tobacco industry agreed to pay 46 states in 1998 for the consequences of decades of nicotine addiction.
Purdue, which settled out of court early on in the Oklahoma case for US$270 million, confirmed Tuesday it was in talks to avoid going to trial in Ohio.
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