Purdue Pharma LP’s billionaire owners went on the offensive against what they call unfair press treatment that’s based on the false assumption they helped trigger the U.S. opioid epidemic, Bloomberg News reported. The Sackler family, whose bankrupt company developed the OxyContin painkiller, asked Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in New York on Friday to let it make public a 580-page presentation, outlining its factual and legal defenses, that was shown to Purdue’s creditors on Dec. 6. The Sacklers have been accused of causing a national epidemic that’s led to more than 400,000 deaths, in part by overseeing a deceptive marketing campaign that pushed doctors to overprescribe OxyContin and downplay its highly addictive nature. Purdue’s proposed grand settlement of 2,700 lawsuits, valued at $10 billion, is being undermined by the false narrative about the Sacklers, the family said in its filing. The family has committed to contributing at least $3 billion and to handing over ownership of Purdue to a trust for the public benefit, a commitment it now says is being interpreted unjustly as a sign of guilt.
