New York (AFP)

This may be the end of a big chapter in an epic legal battle: 15 US states have given up on blocking Purdue's restructuring plan, to accelerate the payment of some $ 4.5 billion to communities affected by the opioid crisis that the laboratory is accused of having triggered.

The 15 states - including those of New York and Massachusetts, which had been particularly aggressive against Purdue and its owners, the Sackler family - have accepted the proposals of a mediator, including providing that they will have to publish "dozens of million documents "exposing the underside of this immense scandal, in particular their exchanges with their lawyers.

"It's not a perfect solution," Letitia James, a New York state attorney, admitted Thursday.

"But this puts an end to legal postponements that would have lasted for years", further delaying the disbursement of funds to states, counties and towns where opiates have wreaked havoc, with prohibitive costs for their social services, he said. -she explains.

The aggressive promotion of the pain-relieving drug OxyContin by Purdue, driven by the Sackler family who knew it to be highly addictive, is considered by many to be the trigger for the opioid crisis.

At the origin of more than 500,000 deaths from overdoses in 20 years in the United States, it was considered the main health crisis before the pandemic.

- "Villains of history" -

The unprecedented release of millions of documents "will tell the whole story," said Massachusetts Attorney Maura Healey.

"Exposing the evil deeds of the Sacklers (...) will ensure that something like this never happens again."

While denouncing a legal system which "protects billionaires", Healey presented this agreement and this 4.5 billion dollars as a victory against the Sacklers, who will go "like the bad guys in the history books".

The Sacklers "will be banned forever from the opiates sector, and their name will no longer appear in hospitals or museums," she said.

Like many American billionaires, the Sacklers made regular donations to prestigious institutions, including major museums such as the Metropolitan Museum in New York or the Tate Gallery in London.

In recent years, as the Sacklers have been the subject of an increasing number of litigation, many of these institutions have banned these donations.

Purdue, the Sacklers and OxyContin, have become the symbols of the excesses of a pharmaceutical industry desperate to reap profits.

Many were hoping to see them pay more than the $ 4.5 billion they pledged in March, up some $ 1.5 billion from what had been announced by pleading guilty in 2020.

The Purdue laboratory, in suspension of payment since September 2019, had then pleaded guilty to fraud and violation of rights on bribes, in connection with its aggressive promotion of the opioid pain medication OxyContin, of which it knew the character. addictive.

As part of an agreement with the US Department of Justice, Connecticut-based Purdue also announced that it would reorganize itself to help fight this scourge of opiate overdoses.

The company must close its doors by 2024 in favor of a new entity managed by a trust: in addition to the sale of OxyContin for "legitimate" purposes, it will have to provide, free of charge or at cost, anti- overdose and treatment for opioid dependence.

The agreement announced by the mediator and the 15 states, and registered with the federal bankruptcy court in New York, remains to be validated by a bankruptcy judge, which could be done at a hearing in August, according to Maura Healey.

However, there are still 10 states, including California, which refuse this latest mediation proposal.

It is not yet clear what consequences their opposition will have, if it is upheld.

The opioid crisis has triggered a mountain of litigation in the United States, targeting Purdue and other major laboratories that have sold opiate drugs, but also distributors, wholesalers and pharmacies, and certain prescribing physicians.

Since June 29, several of these companies must answer for their responsibilities during a trial on Long Island, near New York, the first trial to take place before jurors, who will have to assess the extent of the devastation caused and the damage to inflict.

© 2021 AFP