PURDUE PHARMA COMPANY WILL STAND A $ 12 BILLION TRIAL FOR GETTING PATIENTS ADDICTED TO THE DRUGS

The US Department of Justice plans to impose the penalties on the Purdue Pharma pharmaceutical company. The cause of the threat is the drug Oxycontin, which is used as a powerful pain killer. According to the American Themis, the company is responsible for the "opioid crisis".

The amount of $ 12 billion, as noted by the American experts, is the maximum possible sanction that the US Attorney General can impose. The exact amount of fines will depend on the decision of the court and will most likely be much less than the claimed amount.    

The haste with which the US Department of Justice sent the documents to the White Plains court in New York is understandable.

Purdue Pharma is in a state of bankruptcy and the Ministry of Justice needed to get to the company's register of creditors by July 30.

The prosecutors plan to prove that it is the company's analgesic Oxycontin, which is being aggressively marketed, and partly triggered the opioid crisis that has been developing in the states since the 1990s.

Oxycontin itself is known to be addictive. The Ministry of Justice insists that the company deceived the doctors and patients, not focusing on the risks of addiction and possible overdose. The owners of the company believe that the company cannot bear full responsibility for the crisis, since the drug has successfully passed all the checks necessary for bringing a medical product to the market. Possible risks of addiction were reported on the packaging of the drug.

Moreover, according to the owners, the cause of the crisis is the drug traffic of heroin and fentanyl.

However, such a position is criticized by a number of experts. They note that it is not uncommon for heroin addicts to turn to banned drugs after becoming addicted to the prescribed analgesics.

The sources note that the representatives of the Ministry of Justice have very actively taken up the Sackler family that owns the company. More than $ 6 billion in criminal fines, as well as $ 3 billion in administrative fines have been required to be payed. Additional sum of $ 3 billion is the maximum value from the sale of the confiscated property. At the same time, the very value of the company in the event of liquidation is estimated by the experts at about $ 2 billion.

During almost a year of being in a state of bankruptcy, the company has been able to terminate more than 2,600 lawsuits from administrative-territorial entities and medical companies against it.

It is known that the pharmaceutical company came up with a proposal for a peaceful settlement of the conflict, having agreed to pay a bit more than $ 10 billion. For this purpose, it is proposed that one of the subsidiaries located in Connecticut should become a charitable organization, and the owners of Purdue Pharma could manage it, allocating about $ 3 billion in the benefit of drug addiction victims and the fight against "withdrawal syndrome". As it was noted by Raymond Sackler’s attorney, the family has always worked within the law, acting "ethically and responsibly."