Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, could file for bankruptcy to address the nearly 2,000 lawsuits the company faces for its role in the opioid epidemic.
“People familiar with the matter” told Reuters that the company is exploring the move so that the lawsuits would be stopped and the company could negotiate the claims with the help of a U.S. bankruptcy judge.
Currently, about 1,600 lawsuits against Purdue and other opioid manufacturers have been consolidated in an Ohio federal court where a judge has been looking at ways to reach a global settlement similar to the one struck with the tobacco industry in 1998.
Purdue has long denied any wrongdoing, saying that its labels, which warned of abuse when using opioids, were concurrent with FDA regulations. However, three of the company’s executives pleaded guilty to misleading marketing practices related to OxyContin in 2007.
Read the full Reuters report.