The hit of the Oklahoma lawsuit may extend beyond drugmakers to distributors and retailers involved in the opioid trade
, from the billionaire family that controls Purdue Pharma, was deposed in a case related to his company’s alleged use—which it stoutly denies—of deceptive marketing to understate the addictive potential of OxyContin, its powerful opioid painkiller. The transcript of that testimony was unearthed this February, fuelling outrage over Purdue’s role in America’s growing opioid epidemic.
Critics of the opioid-pushers cheered. As long ago as 2004, Purdue settled a case alleging inappropriate marketing of OxyContin with regulators in West Virginia for $10m, without admitting guilt. Since then, observes Elizabeth Burch of the University of Georgia Law School, nearly all such cases have been settled, with details of the litigation remaining under seal. The landmark trial in Oklahoma, which began in May, has already revealed the industry’s unsavoury practices.
Mr Maris’s theory was bolstered a day after the Oklahoma verdict, when news reports surfaced of a dramatic deal in the works involving Purdue, the federal judge supervising the case in Ohio, and the plaintiffs in that case, as well as various state attorneys-general. The company appears willing to cough up between $10bn and $12bn, with $3bn or more coming from the Sackler family, as part of a bankruptcy transaction that would see the firm reconstituted as a public trust.
All this should alarm the peddlers of the pills. Analysts differ on just how worried they ought to be. Tom Claps, a legal expert at Susquehanna Financial Group, an investment firm, calculates that the industry faces a legal risk of perhaps $37bn from ongoing cases. Patrickof Berenberg, a German investment bank, thinks that distributors alone could face legal liabilities of $40bn. Across the entire opioid supply chain, MrThat is the worst-case scenario. For the time being, investors seem calm.
Other legal theories against drugmakers and distributors have yet to be tested in court. After this week’s development, they may not get a chance. Andrew Pollis of Case Western Reserve University School of Law thinks the rest of the firms may fall in line behind Purdue. “Settlement feels impossible,” he says. “But trial is unthinkable.”"Opioids Inc in the dock"
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