A group of Democratic senators asked the Justice Department to drop its efforts to convert bankrupt OxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma LP to a public asset, saying that the proposed “rebranding” would force state governments to own a company they don’t want, The Wall Street Journal reported. High-ranking lawmakers, including Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), said in a letter sent Tuesday to Justice Department officials, that the agency shouldn’t go ahead with a proposed settlement of years-long government investigations into Purdue. If approved by the judge overseeing Purdue’s bankruptcy, the settlement would clear the way for the company to turn over future profits to cities and states that have accused it of helping fuel the opioid addiction crisis. The idea of converting Purdue into a “public-benefit corporation” came from members of the Sackler family who own the company, and from Purdue. Creditors have alleged that Sackler family members have made billions of dollars while sales of OxyContin helped fuel a nationwide crisis of addiction. A Purdue spokesperson said the proposed deal is an essential step toward a broader bankruptcy restructuring that would deliver more than $10 billion in value, including 100 percent of Purdue’s assets, to claimants and communities, providing settlement funds to address the opioid crisis and millions of doses of treatment and overdose-reversal medicines.
