Drugmaker pleads guilty to criminal charges

Purdue Pharma, the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin, pleaded guilty Tuesday to three federal criminal charges related to the company’s role in creating the nation’s opioid crisis.

Board Chairman Steve Miller pleaded guilty on behalf of the company during a virtual federal court hearing with a judge in Newark, New Jersey, formally admitting the company impeded efforts by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to combat an opioid epidemic that has contributed to hundreds of thousands of deaths.

The counts include one of dual-object conspiracy to defraud the United States and to violate the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, and two counts of conspiracy to violate the federal Anti-Kickback Statute.

Purdue acknowledged that it hadn’t maintained an effective program to prevent prescription drugs from being diverted to the black market, even though it had told the DEA it did have such a program, and that it provided misleading information to the agency as a way to boost company manufacturing quotas.

It also admitted paying doctors through a speakers program to induce them to write more prescriptions for its painkillers and paying an electurronic medical records company to send doctors information on patients that encouraged them to prescribe opioids.

“Having our plea accepted in federal court, and taking responsibility for past misconduct, is an essential step to preserve billions of dollars of value for creditors and advance our goal of providing financial resources and lifesaving medicines to address the opioid crisis,” the statement said.

“We continue to work tirelessly to build additional support for a proposed bankruptcy settlement, which would direct the overwhelming majority of the settlement funds to state, local and tribal governments for the purpose of abating the opioid crisis.”

The guilty pleas were part of a criminal and civil settlement announced last month between the Stamford, Connecticut-based company and the Justice Department.

The plea deal announced includes the largest penalties ever levied against a pharmaceutical manufacturer, including a criminal fine of $3.544 billion and an additional $2 billion in criminal forfeiture, according to a Department of Justice press release.

The company will be dissolved as a part of the plea agreement.

The Sackler family, and other current and former employees and owners of the company, still face the possibility that federal criminal charges will be filed against them.

Members of the billionaire Sackler family who own Purdue weren’t part of the court proceedings and haven’t been criminally charged, though the deal they reached with the federal government in October leaves open that possibility in the future.

Under that deal, they agreed to pay a $225 million civil penalty for allegedly causing false claims for OxyContin to be made to government health care programs such as Medicare. They have denied the allegations.

Attorneys general for about half the states opposed the federal settlement, as well as the company’s proposed settlement in Bankruptcy Court. In the bankruptcy case, Purdue has proposed transforming into a public benefit corporation with its proceeds going to help address the opioid crisis.

Despite the Sacklers giving up control of the company, the attorneys general and some activists are bothered that the family remains wealthy. The activists say there’s no difference between the actions of the company and its owners, who also controlled Purdue’s board until the past few years.