OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP has racked up $277 million in professional fees in the first nine months of its bankruptcy — four times as much as it spent on research and development, The Wall Street Journal reported. The professional fees that the company incurred between September 2019 and the end of June include $134 million paid to court-approved bankruptcy lawyers and advisers, such as mediators who have collected $4 million for their efforts to break an impasse holding up a settlement over how much Purdue should pay for its alleged role in the epidemic of opioid addiction. So far, those efforts haven’t paid off. Dozens of states and other authorities spurned a settlement offer at the start of the company’s bankruptcy; none has had a change of heart. The settlement offer remains unchanged. Purdue Pharma filed for bankruptcy to resolve liability for its role in driving the epidemic of addiction. The Sackler family, which owns the company and has been sued along with Purdue, denies wrongdoing but has offered $3 billion and other concessions to settle with opioid victims as part of the company’s bankruptcy. Bankruptcy froze litigation against the company and the Sacklers, including the discovery proceedings that would allow people to dig into the company’s records to ascertain who made decisions that flooded communities with opioids. Lawsuits continue against other drugmakers and distributors, which are keeping an eye on Purdue’s bankruptcy. Leading law professors have called on federal bankruptcy watchdogs to back an independent probe of Purdue Pharma so that victims of the opioid crisis can learn the extent of the Sacklers’ involvement before deciding whether to vote for or against grants of legal immunity for them.
