RPT - US Drugmaker Purdue Pharma Offers $10Bln To Settle Opioid Lawsuits - Reports

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 28th August, 2019) US pharmaceutical giant Purdue Pharma and its ownership have offered authorities a proposal worth at least $10 billion to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits related to the opioid crisis, media reported.

Purdue Pharma has been hit with thousands of lawsuits for its role in the opioid addiction crisis that has led to record level overdoes throughout the United States dating back to the late 1990s. According to the US National Health Institute, Purdue Pharma falsely claimed in advertisements and in statements to Federal regulators that the company's main product, an opioid painkiller known as OxyContin, was not addictive.

The potential deal was part of confidential talks with Purdue's lawyers at a meeting in Cleveland on August 20, NBC news reported on Tuesday citing two people familiar with the mediation.

At least ten US state attorneys general and the plaintiffs' attorneys were gathered at the meeting where David Sackler represented the Sackler family, the owner of Purdue Pharma, the report added. The drugmaker did not confirm the proposed settlement terms but in a statement said it was working with the states attorneys general and plaintiffs to resolve the matter, according to the report.