The Latest: OxyContin maker settling for $270M with Oklahoma
TULSA, Okla. (AP) — The Latest on Oklahoma’s lawsuit against manufacturers of opioid pain medications (all times local):
10:50 a.m.
A person familiar with the agreement says the company that has made billions of dollars selling the drug OxyContin and the family that owns it have reached a $270 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma over its role in the opioid crisis.
The person spoke on condition of anonymity to confirm the settlement amount to The Associated Press because the person was not authorized to discuss the terms before an official announcement expected later Tuesday.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter’s office will hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon to talk about the settlement with Connecticut-based Purdue Pharma. The office hasn’t released terms of the settlement.
The company’s settlement will go toward establishing the National Center for Addiction Studies and Treatment at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa.
The deal comes two months before a trial against the pharmaceutical companies was set to begin
Purdue Pharma introduced OxyContin more than 20 years ago and marketed the strong prescription painkiller aggressively to doctors.
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10:30 a.m.
A woman who’s been organizing hundreds of mothers to attend the Oklahoma trial in a lawsuit against opioid manufacturers says she’s “devastated” that a settlement has been reached with one company.
Cheryl Juaire said Tuesday that a full airing of the facts is the only way to fully hold Purdue Pharma accountable. The company makes the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin. Her 23-year-old son died of an overdose in 2011.
Oklahoma’s attorney general announced earlier Tuesday that a settlement had been reached with Purdue Pharma, one of 13 drugmakers named in a lawsuit alleging the firms helped fuel the opioid epidemic. Terms haven’t been disclosed.
The 12 remaining defendants still face trial in May.
Juaire says she and other mothers planned to stand outside with photos of their dead children. She says she hopes cities other states that have filed similar lawsuits don’t settle with the company.
She says such settlements are a “huge disservice to the tens of thousands of families here in the United States who buried a child.”
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8:05 a.m.
Oklahoma’s attorney general has called a press conference to announce a settlement with one drug company in the state’s lawsuit against the nation’s leading manufacturers of opioid pain medications.
Attorney General Mike Hunter’s office said in a statement that a Tuesday afternoon news conference will include the “announcement of a settlement agreement with Purdue Pharma.”
A spokesman for the attorney general confirmed that a settlement would be announced, but he declined further comment.
Oklahoma sued 13 opioid manufacturers in 2017, alleging they fraudulently engaged in marketing campaigns that led to thousands of overdose addictions and deaths.
Purdue Pharma has said it made billions of dollars selling the prescription painkiller OxyContin but it’s now considering bankruptcy among its legal options, potentially upending hundreds of lawsuits, including Oklahoma’s.
An attorney for Purdue did not return a call seeking comment.
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6:40 a.m.
Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter says he will announce a “breaking development” in the state’s lawsuit against the nation’s leading manufacturers of opioid pain medications.
Hunter said in a statement that he will hold a news conference Tuesday afternoon in Tulsa, but he gave no further details.
The move comes after the Oklahoma Supreme Court denied a request from drugmakers on Monday to postpone the start of what is expected to be the first state trial in lawsuits accusing the companies of fueling an opioid epidemic.
Oklahoma sued 13 opioid manufacturers in 2017, alleging they fraudulently engaged in marketing campaigns that led to thousands of overdose addictions and deaths.
State officials have said that since 2009, more Oklahoma residents have died from opioid-related deaths than in vehicle crashes.
