DEA Whistleblower accuses big pharma and Congress for opioid crisis

[Cuddles]

Big Pharma ANNNNNNNNND congress. These scumbags were only too happy to take the money and turn a blind eye and deaf ear, and they have done it for decades. Now there's a problem? Fuck you! I guess I'll just keep saying it. This criminally corrupt congress was, is, and always will be the main source of every problem we have in this country, and until you stupid MF'ers quit distinguishing between the two parties as if one is somehow less corrupt than the other, it will continue.

I'll agree that when it comes to big pharma, both parties have been taking donor's money without much pushback.

Though only one side demonizes those democrats not willing to take corporate money.

 

[Cuddles]

 

[El OchoCinco]

This criminally corrupt congress was, is, and always will be the main source of every problem we have in this country, and until you stupid MF'ers quit distinguishing between the two parties as if one is somehow less corrupt than the other, it will continue.

Wow never thought I would hear you call it out equally like that, I assumed it was all Obama's fault and Trump was a savior .

 

[CaptainObvious]

Wow never thought I would hear you call it out equally like that, I assumed it was all Obama's fault and Trump was a savior .

I've been calling it out equally like that for over a decade of ET political posts. The very same problems we debate today were debated long before Obama or Trump ever entered the scene. Every election cycle brings a new swarm of numbskulls pretending it's all new. Congress has been the problem for my entire lifetime and before. Presidents are typically just useful idiots going along to get along, with Trump breaking that mold which is why he gets so much flack. Not that Trump is some savior, he's not. He is just the predictable result of a broken and corrupt system of government. He is, as Michael Moore put so well, our middle finger to the establishment. It felt good as he said it would, it still feels good., and it will continue to feel good until these MF'ers are replaced. Don't hold your breath.

 

[El OchoCinco]

I've been calling it out equally like that for over a decade of ET political posts. .

Over a decade of political posts....

 

[Cuddles]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...y-over-572-million-its-role-oklahoma-n1046476

Johnson & Johnson must pay over $572 million for its role in Oklahoma opioid crisis, judge rules
Oklahoma's attorney general claimed that the company marketed opioids to doctors while downplaying the risks of the addictive painkillers since the 1990s.

An Oklahoma judge on Monday ordered Johnson & Johnson to pay over $572 million for pushing doctors to prescribe opioids while downplaying the risks of addiction, actions that state prosecutors said helped fuel the state's opioid epidemic and led to more than 6,000 deaths over nearly two decades.

Oklahoma Attorney General Mike Hunter claimed in court that the sales push by Johnson & Johnson and its pharmaceutical subsidiary, Janssen, starting in the 1990s had created “a public nuisance” that led to the deaths.

 

[Cuddles]

https://www.wsj.com/articles/purdue...th-oklahoma-in-opioid-crisis-case-11553606534

Purdue Pharma Begins Resolution of Opioid Cases With $270 Million Deal
Settlement is first to come of 1,600 lawsuits the maker of OxyContin faces over opioid marketing

Purdue Pharma LP has forged the first deal to resolve more than 1,600 lawsuits blaming the OxyContin maker for fueling the opioid crisis, a move that could lay the groundwork for the resolution of the rest of the litigation.

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/26/health/opioids-purdue-pharma-oklahoma.html

Purdue Pharma and Sacklers Reach $270 Million Settlement in Opioid Lawsuit
The agreement, negotiated with the state of Oklahoma, will allow the maker of OxyContin to avoid a televised courtroom trial.

Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, and its owners, the Sackler family, agreed to pay $270 million to avoid going to a state court trial over the company’s role in the opioid addiction epidemic that has killed more than 200,000 Americans over the past two decades.

The payment, negotiated to settle a case brought by the state of Oklahoma, was far larger than two previous settlements Purdue Pharma had reached with other states. It could jolt other settlement talks with the company, including those in a consolidated collection of 1600 cases overseen by a federal judge in Cleveland.

“Purdue appears to have concluded that it was less risky to settle the Oklahoma case than have the allegations publicly aired against it during a televised trial and face exposure to what could have been an astronomical jury verdict,” said Abbe R. Gluck, a professor at Yale Law School who directs the Solomon Center for Health Policy and Law.

“That said,” she continued, “the settlement does put a stake in the ground for the other cases. It telegraphs what these cases might be worth and makes the elephant in the room even larger — namely, do Purdue and the Sacklers have sufficient funds to give fair payouts in the 1600-plus cases that remain?”

Sackler family members of directing efforts to mislead the public about OxyContin’s potency and addictive properties. A number of museums and cultural institutions around the world have recently stopped taking donations from the Sacklers, who have a long record of philanthropy.

As headlines mounted, the company began exploring the possibility of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy restructuring, a step that could temporarily insulate it from big judgments. While it has yet to decide, the possibility of bankruptcy exerted powerful leverage at the bargaining table in Oklahoma, people familiar with the negotiations said.

Once a company files for Chapter 11 protection, only secured creditors, such as banks, can expect to be repaid in full. While an Oklahoma jury could potentially have hit Purdue with a stratospheric civil judgment, the likelihood of the state collecting even a significant portion from bankruptcy court — never mind how much appellate courts would reduce the award — would be remote and at some point far in the future. Legal experts said the settlement amounts to a bird-in-the-hand decision.

Legal experts said similar calculations could come into play in the 35 other state cases still pending against Purdue, as well as in the federal litigation, which combines 1600 suits brought by cities, counties, Native American tribes and others.

“There is blood in the water now, and with the threat of bankruptcy, the concern is that counties and states may settle on the cheap early to avoid getting little to nothing later on, “ said Elizabeth Chamblee Burch, a law professor at the University of Georgia.

At a news conference Tuesday in Tulsa, Mike Hunter, the Oklahoma state attorney general, said that as part of the settlement agreement, Purdue’s payment to the state had been secured against any possible bankruptcy filing.

“The addiction crisis facing our state and nation is a clear and present danger,” Mr. Hunter said. “Last year alone, out of the more than 3,000 Oklahomans admitted to the hospital for a nonfatal overdose, 80 percent involved a prescription opioid medication. Additionally, nearly 50 percent of Oklahomans who died from a drug overdose in 2018 were attributed to a pharmaceutical drug. Deploying the money from this settlement immediately allows us to decisively treat addiction illness and save lives.”

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the federal litigation, while quick to praise Oklahoma’s settlement, underscored that a resolution with Purdue hardly represented a broad settlement with the numerous companies involved in making, distributing and selling opioid painkillers.

“There are nearly two dozen other defendants with pending allegations against them in federal court, “ the executive committee of the plaintiffs’ lawyers said in a statement. “We believe all of these defendants — opioid manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacies — must be held responsible for their role in the epidemic, and we will continue to pursue accountability for the thousands of communities we represent.”

According to details of the agreement announced Tuesday by Mr. Hunter, more than than $100 million will go to fund a new addiction treatment and research center at Oklahoma State University in Tulsa. The Sacklers, who were not named in the lawsuit, will contribute an additional $75 million over five years to the center.

Center for Wellness and Recovery, which has a current annual budget of only about $2.4 million.

About $60 million of the settlement money will be set aside to reimburse the state for litigation costs, and $12.5 million will be given to municipalities and counties to address their costs for the epidemic. The package also includes $20 million in medicine for addiction treatment. (The Food and Drug Administration recently granted Purdue a fast track designation to develop an emergency opioid overdose treatment injection, which the company pledged not to profit from.)

Public health experts cautiously welcomed the agreement.

“It will certainly be addressing the harms caused by the company, “ said Dr. Joshua M. Sharfstein, a professor of public health policy at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

“It creates an opportunity not just to improve treatment right on the university’s site, but to expand access to lifesaving medications across the region, “ he said.

So far, the trial, which includes other pharmaceutical companies such as Johnson & Johnson, is on track to begin May 28. On Monday, the Oklahoma Supreme Court turned aside a bid by the defendants to delay the start by 100 days.

Xarelto, the blood thinner medication. With its co-defendant, Bayer, Johnson & Johnson prevailed in six jury trials over Xarelto, before it agreed to settle.

[Like the Science Ti

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/27/health/sacklers-purdue-pharma-opioid-settlement.html
Sacklers Would Give Up Ownership of Purdue Pharma Under Settlement Proposal

The Sackler family would give up ownership of Purdue Pharma, the company blamed for much of the opioid epidemic, and pay $3 billion of their own money under terms of a settlement proposal to resolve thousands of federal and state lawsuits, according to a person familiar with the negotiations.

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/28/7550...ing-massive-settlements-to-resolve-opioid-sui

Several Big Drug Companies Considering Massive Settlements To Resolve Opioid Suits

Purdue Pharma has confirmed to NPR that global settlement talks are underway that would resolve all claims against the company. Published reports suggest the deal could involve payments of up to $12 billion and a bankruptcy process that would force the Sackler family to give up ownership of the company.

https://www.marketwatch.com/story/o...lare-bankruptcy-sackler-family-out-2019-08-28

Oxy settlement could see Purdue Pharma declare bankruptcy, Sackler family out

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Purdue Pharma would devote its profits to cleaning up the devastation wrought by opioids, and the controlling Sackler family would be out, under a $10 billion to $12 billion nationwide settlement taking shape at the negotiating table, according to published reports Wednesday.

The agreement, if it comes to pass, would resolve more than 2,000 lawsuits

 

[Cuddles]

 

[Cuddles]

 

[Cuddles]