Purdue Pharma, the maker of Oxycontin, has agreed to plead guilty to three federal criminal charges in an $8 billion settlement related to their role in the opioid crisis, Justice Department officials told the Associated Press on Wednesday.
The settlement is the strongest effort to date by the Justice Department to hold a major drugmaker accountable for the opioid crisis in the U.S. Opioid overdoses have caused roughly 470,000 deaths in the country since 2000, as prescription painkillers including Oxycontin and fentanyl have flooded the U.S. market.
Purdue will admit to reporting misleading information to the Drug Enforcement Administration in order to increase production of Oxycontin. The company will also admit to falsely portraying the efficacy of its efforts to avoid “drug diversion,” or any process by which a medication is transferred from the intended patient towards illegal use.
The Sackler family, whose members own Purdue, will not be exempt from criminal liabilities as part of the plea deal.
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