Section:GDN 1N PaGe:34 Edition Date:190829 Edition:01 Zone:S Sent at 28/8/2019 18:34 cYanmaGentaYellow
- The Guardian Thursday 29 Aug ust 2019
(^34) World
Joanna Walters
New York
Purdue Pharma and members of the
multi-billionaire Sackler family , who
own the company that makes the pre-
scription painkiller OxyContin, have
off ered to settle more than 2,000
lawsuits from US states and cities for
between $10bn (£8.1bn) and $12bn.
The Connecticut-based company
has been blamed for fuelling the
opioids crisis , which has killed more
than 400,000 people in the US in the
last 20 years. More 130 people still die
every day through overdoses , govern-
ment fi gures show.
Settlement talks of more than a year
appear to be concluding and will be
accelerated by a landmark ruling in
Oklahoma on Monday, where another
large pharmaceutical company, John-
son & Johnson, lost a civil case and was
ordered to pay out $572m. Purdue set-
tled in that case before the trial stage.
Agence France-Presse
Marseille
French police are hunting for thieves
who have stolen bronze bells from
the steeples of listed churches in
Provence in the dead of night over
the past month.
T h e fi rst place to be targeted was
Ginasservis , a town of 1,800 people 50
miles north-east of Marseille, where
two bronze bells, each weighing at
least 50 kg (110 lb), were stolen from
two diff erent churches on 21 July. One
dates from 1737, the other from 1867.
On 10 August thieves struck again,
this time 15 miles away in Brue-Auriac ,
where they made off with a bell
weighing 85kg from a 12th- century
Romanesque church.
Last week it was the turn of nearby
Esparron-de-Pallières , where another
listed 12th-century Romanesque
church was left bereft of its 50 kg bell.
The public prosecutor leading the
investigation, Pierre Arpaia, said that
if the bells were not being sold on, they
were being melted down for bronze.
One priest said all that parishion-
ers could do was pray.
Purdue’s lawyers last week met 10
state attorneys general and plaintiff s
from some of the hundreds of cities
and counties in Cleveland to discuss a
deal, NBC News reported on Tuesday.
The New York Times reported that
the settlement proposal involved the
Sacklers giving up ownership of Pur-
due Pharma and paying $3bn of their
own money towards the settlement.
The deal would include fi ling for
bankruptcy and turning the company
into a “public benefi ciary trust”, which
would allow profi ts to go to plaintiff s,
it reported. If parties agree, Pur-
due would be the fi rst of the many
pharmaceutical companies being sued
to settle all claims.
The news came less than a day after
a judge in Oklahoma said Johnson &
Johnson had run a “cunning” and
“false and dangerous” sales campaign
causing addiction and death.
The company has denied wrong-
doing and said it will appeal.
Monday’s verdict, ha s wide- ranging
consequences for the other opioid
makers, distributors and pharmacy
chains facing thousands of lawsuits
across the country.
Purdue and other companies, as
well as eight members of the Sackler
family that wholly owns Purdue, still
face civil cases brought by Massachu-
setts, New York and numerous other
states, and a multi-district case in a
federal court in Cleveland that brings
together lawsuits from almost 2,000
US cities and counties.
The fi rst trials in that case are due to
start in October, and lawyers for Pur-
due have been in talks for months to
try to hammer out a settlement.
In a statement to the Guardian the
company said: “While Purdue Pharma
is prepared to defend itself vigorously
in the opioid litigation, it sees little
good coming from years of wasteful
litigation and appeals. The people and
communities aff ected by the opioid
crisis need help now.”
The statement continued: “Purdue
believes a constructive global resolu-
tion is the best path forward, and the
company is actively working with
the state attorneys general and other
plaintiff s to achieve this outcome.”
Purdue Pharma and leading
members of the Sackler family have
vigorously denied any wrongdoing in
relation to the opioids crisis.
The core members of the family and
their immediate relatives are under-
stood to be collectively worth at least
$13bn and are at odds with less wealthy
parts of the family who have not been
involved with the OxyContin narcotic,
over blame for the US opioids crisis.
Additional reporting AP
Sackler fi rm
off ers $12bn
to settle US
opioid claims
Police in Provence
hunt thieves who
stole bronze bells
▲ Friends and family of opioid overdose victims protest outside a Boston court
during a lawsuit against Purdue PHOTOGRAPH: NIC ANTAYA/BOSTON GLOBE/ GETTY
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