Tom Vilsack, a former Iowa governor and U.S agriculture secretary, will monitor Purdue Pharma to ensure the OxyContin maker does not revive an aggressive marketing effort that critics say overstated the benefits of its opioid painkillers and downplayed the danger of addiction, the Associated Press reported. Purdue Pharma announced the appointment on Friday as part of its federal bankruptcy proceedings. Vilsack worked on rural opioid issues as agriculture secretary under former President Barack Obama. Purdue is facing more than 2,000 lawsuits over its role in the nation's opioid crisis, which has been linked to more than 430,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000. The Stamford, Connecticut-based company entered bankruptcy court in White Plains, N.Y., last year as part of an effort to settle those claims. It's trying to get buy-in for a proposed settlement that could be worth more than $10 billion over time. The lawsuits against Purdue and the members of the Sackler family that own the company are on hold while the parties try to reach a settlement. Purdue has already agreed to cease the marketing practices at the heart of the lawsuits. Critics say its marketing and sales practices, including to doctors, helped fuel the crisis beginning in the late 1990s.
