State attorneys general, including Colorado’s Phil Weiser, say Purdue’s bankruptcy plan doesn’t go far enough
Purdue Pharma filed a $10 billion proposed plan Monday night to exit bankruptcy that would put ownership of the new company into two trusts.
However, attorneys general from two dozen states, including Colorado’s Phil Weiser, say it doesn’t do enough to atone for the company and its founding family’s role in fueling the opioid crisis in the U.S.
The plan was filed in White Plains, New York, and is a formal offer to settle thousands of lawsuits by state and local governments, Native American tribes, hospitals and other entities.
The proposal includes an offer for the Sackler family, Purdue Pharma’s founders, to contribute more than $4 billion over a decade, and a public repository of the company’s documents.
Board of Directors Chairman Steve Miller called the plan “historic” and having “a profoundly positive impact on public health by directing critically-needed resources to communities and individuals nationwide who have been affected by the opioid crisis.”
But Weiser and other attorneys general say the proposal does not go far enough, calling for Purdue to include a plan for winding down the company that doesn’t “excessively entangle” it with states and creditors and more money from the Sackler family.
“I am disappointed in this plan. While it contains improvements over the proposal that Purdue announced and we rejected in September 2019, it falls short of the accountability that families and survivors deserve,” says the statement.
“Our states investigated Purdue and the Sacklers and filed the lawsuits to hold this criminal enterprise accountable. During the bankruptcy, our states worked together, across party lines, to force Purdue to turn over millions of pages of evidence and to question the Sacklers under oath.”
Purdue is the maker of OxyContin. Court documents have shown the company continued to push prescription of its drug even as abuse increased, and Purdue has been accused of covering up what it knew about the addictiveness of opioids.
Nearly half a million deaths have been linked to opioids since 2000, including prescription and illegal drugs such as heroin. The U.S. recorded more than 50,000 opioid-related deaths in 2019.
Purdue proposed a plan similar to the one filed Monday when it first filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019, which put a pause on lawsuits against it and members of the Sackler family.
Purdue’s plan also includes providing overdose antidotes and anti-addiction drugs worth more than $4 billion.
The new company that would replace Purdue would be owned indirectly by two trusts, one representing interests of state and local governments and one representing the interests of Native American tribes.
Future profits would go to the government bodies for various programs designed to mitigate the opioid crisis.
Parties with claims against the company must vote by later this year on whether to accept the new bankruptcy plan.
Purdue has also pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges and settled civil cases separately.
Members of the Sackler family have agreed to pay $225 million to the federal government but without admitting wrongdoing.
Purdue made a separate federal agreement worth more than $8 billion, but only has to pay $225 million as long as funds are used to mitigate the opioid crisis.
“Opioid overdoses and addiction have devastated families and communities all around Colorado,” said Tuesday’s statement. “We are committed to working with all parties in the bankruptcy to improve this plan and develop a fair resolution. By doing so, we can deliver critically needed assistance to the people of Colorado.”
Weiser is joined in the statement by most Democratic attorneys general and Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden, a Republican.
Information from the Associated Press is included in this report.


