OxyContin maker admits role in opioid epidemic, pleads guilty to federal charges

Purdue Pharma, the company that invented the painkiller OxyContin, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three federal criminal charges and admitted its role in fueling the decades-long opioid epidemic that has taken hundreds of thousands of American lives.

Steve Miller, chairman of Purdue's board of directors, admitted via videoconference to a federal judge in Newark that the company had not run an effective program to avoid the illegal diversion of prescription drugs to the black market, had reported misleading information to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration to boost its manufacturing quotas and had impeded that agency's effort to fight the burgeoning epidemic. 

Miller also admitted on behalf of the company that it had, over the course of nine years, paid doctors through its speaker program to induce them to prescribe more of Purdue's opioids. 

The pleas are part of a government settlement announced in October by the federal Department of Justice. It's the government's most visible attempt to hold drugmakers responsible for the plague of addiction that has caused more than 470,000 deaths in the United States in the last 20 years. 

“The abuse and diversion of prescription opioids has contributed to a national tragedy of addiction and deaths, in addition to those caused by illicit street opioids,” Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey A. Rosen said in a statement. “Today’s guilty pleas to three felony charges send a strong message to the pharmaceutical industry that illegal behavior will have serious consequences."

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As a condition of the settlement, Purdue agreed to pay fines of more than $8 billion. But the company will likely pay only about $225 million to the federal government — provided it complies with a settlement moving through federal Bankruptcy Court. 

Purdue will also be effectively dissolved and converted into a public benefit company overseen by a trust.

The Sackler family, which owns the company, will not be involved in the new organization. Tuesday's plea does not absolve the Sacklers of future criminal liability, according to the settlement. But the wealthy family will pay $225 million in damages to resolve its civil liability, the U.S. Attorney's Office said.

In a statement last month, the Sacklers maintained that family members who served on Purdue's board of directors acted ethically and lawfully. The agreement, they said, was meant to avoid years of legal wrangling while sending funds to communities in need.

"We have deep compassion for people who suffer from opioid addiction and abuse and hope the proposal will be implemented as swiftly as possible to help address their critical needs," the family said.

Not everyone was satisfied, however. 

New Jersey Attorney General Gurbir Grewal, whose office has filed several claims against Purdue and the Sacklers over the last three years, said they must be held accountable for their actions. 

"A company like Purdue that has so egregiously violated the public trust should not be allowed to continue forward as a public trust corporation," Grewal said in a statement after the plea. "The Sacklers should not be allowed to buy their way out of liability for so much less than they extracted from the company that they used as their personal piggy bank. And we should not pursue corporate executives who peddle dangerous, addictive drugs with less vigor than we pursue those who sling drugs on street corners."

Grewal's office said the state will continue to aggressively pursue its claims, which are now part of a pending case in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in the Southern District of New York. 

As part of Tuesday's guilty plea, Purdue admitted that from May 2007 to at least March 2017, it defrauded the U.S. government by telling the Drug Enforcement Administration that it had maintained an effective anti-diversion program. In fact, the company was marketing opioids to more than 100 health care providers who it had good reason to believe were sending them to the black market, said a statement from the U.S. Attorney's Office.

The company also admitted to violating the federal anti-kickback statute when it made payments in 2016 to Practice Fusion Inc., an electronic health records company, in exchange for referring and recommending Purdue's extended-release opioids like OxyContin, the U.S. Attorney's Office said. 

This article contains material from The Associated Press.

Steve Janoski covers law enforcement for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news about those who safeguard your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

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