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Endo International Plc’s $35 million settlement of a multi-billion-dollar Tennessee opioid lawsuit spares the drugmaker a potentially disastrous blow but leaves other threats to the company in place and shows how the larger legal fight is evolving, Bloomberg News reported. The agreement in principle announced Thursday — one day after the mammoth deal that Johnson & Johnson and three drug distributors struck with U.S. state and local governments — requires more than two dozen local governments to sign off. Cash-poor Endo “could have headed for Chapter 11” bankruptcy proceedings if the $2.4 billion Tennessee suit had succeeded, said Richard Ausness, a University of Kentucky law professor who has been following the U.S. opioid litigation. “If the counties are willing to let them settle for $35 million, the Endo guys should take that and run,” he said. “It will let them live to fight another day.” But even if it seals the deal, Endo has many more lawsuits to work through. The pact is for local governments from only three of at least 15 of the state’s judicial districts in which suits have been filed against the company. Meanwhile, Endo is among the defendants in a lawsuit by New York counties seeking more than $2 billion.

A health care nonprofit that offers an alternative to traditional health insurance has filed for chapter 11 protection and ceased operations, leaving its New Hampshire members without coverage, The New Hampshire Union Leader reported. Sharity Ministries Inc. — formerly known as Trinity Healthshare Inc. — operates as a health care sharing ministry. Members pay premiums and voluntarily agree to share their medical expenses in accordance with their Christian beliefs, according to the company's previous website. In October 2019, the New Hampshire Insurance Department ordered Sharity, along with the Aliera Companies, which had administered and marketed the health coverage, to stop issuing new plans or renewing coverage in the state after receiving dozens of complaints. At the time, about 1,400 New Hampshire residents had signed up for the plans. Similar orders were issued in California, Connecticut, Colorado, Maryland, Missouri and Washington. Such cost-sharing models are less expensive than traditional health insurance but can leave customers vulnerable. Many thought they were signing up for health insurance, only to find their claims were denied because of preexisting conditions or the claims were deemed inappropriate for a "Christian lifestyle," according to the department. Sharity filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 8, and later made the decision to cease operations.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP said today that creditors voted in favor of its reorganization plan that would provide billions of dollars to the governments that sued the company for its role in the U.S. opioid crisis, Reuters reported. More than 95% of the 120,000-plus votes submitted were in favor of the plan, Purdue said, citing preliminary voting results. Purdue expects to release the final voting results by Aug. 2, but added that it does not expect any material changes. Purdue’s plan aims to resolve some 3,000 lawsuits brought by U.S. communities alleging that Purdue and its wealthy Sackler family owners contributed to the opioid crisis that has claimed the lives of roughly 500,000 people since 1999, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Stamford, Conn.-based company and family members have denied the allegations in the litigation. Earlier in July, Purdue reached an agreement with several states over the litigation. The agreement, supported by longstanding holdouts including Massachusetts and New York, sets the stage for Purdue to gain court approval in coming weeks for its bankruptcy plan, which the company values at more than $10 billion.

The Nassau County Industrial Development Agency has agreed to help a retirement community in Port Washington recover from its second bankruptcy in seven years, citing concern about the elderly residents’ welfare, Newsday reported. A divided IDA board voted last week to issue additional bonds and grant more tax breaks to the Amsterdam at Harborside. The nonprofit facility needs the aid to restructure $140 million in existing debt and to pay more than $20 million in entrance-fee refunds owed to 33 families of deceased residents. Officials said the IDA help consists of up to $41 million in taxable bonds, up to $128 million in tax-exempt bonds and up to $1.3 million off the mortgage recording tax. In addition, the Amsterdam’s sponsor, a Manhattan nursing home with the same name, has agreed to pour $18 million into the retirement community at 300 East Overlook on Nassau’s Gold Coast.

West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said he will oppose OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan, arguing that his state, one of the hardest hit by the opioid epidemic, would get shorted in settlement money, the Associated Press reported. “I remain vigorously opposed to a proposed allocation formula that would distribute settlement funds largely based on a state or local government’s population — not intensity of the problem,” Morrisey said yesterday. Purdue’s plan to reorganize into a new entity that helps combat the U.S. opioid epidemic got a big boost last week as 15 states that had previously opposed the new business model gave their support. The agreement from multiple state attorneys general, including those who had most aggressively opposed Purdue’s original settlement proposal, was disclosed last Wednesday in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, New York. It followed weeks of intense mediations that resulted in changes to Purdue’s original exit plan.

A Long Island hospital that treats some of the area’s most vulnerable residents is seeking another round of turnaround advice after an earlier recommendation to shut its inpatient unit and sell its nursing facility, Bloomberg News reported. Nassau Health Care Corp. this month issued a request for advisers to help boost revenues and performance at the 530-bed Nassau University Medical Center and its 589-bed skilled nursing facility. Like other so-called safety net hospitals, most of Nassau Medical’s patients are on publicly funded insurance — about 80% according to a December report issued by Alvarez & Marsal, the advisers previously hired. Medicare and Medicaid typically reimburse at a lower rate than private insurance, and A&M projected that the hospital would lose close to $200 million this year. Because it’s operated by the county, filing for bankruptcy isn’t an option without authorization from the governor or legislature. With a shift to outpatient care and 2,300 vacant beds in the county, the hospital “fails to address the changing needs of the community,” the A&M report said. “The status quo is simply not an option,” and without changes “the survival of NHCC remains doubtful.” Nassau County Health Care Corp. has $150 million municipal bonds outstanding. The bonds are guaranteed by the county and carry an A+ rating from S&P Global Ratings Inc., according to data compiled by Bloomberg.

Sharity Ministries Inc., a medical-cost-sharing nonprofit for Christians, has filed for bankruptcy protection in an effort to keep operating amid accusations by state authorities that it deceived consumers by running a sham health-insurance business, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The nonprofit said that it would use bankruptcy to break many of its contracts with Aliera Cos., which provides administrative, marketing, sales and other services to Sharity, according to papers filed Thursday in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Del. Aliera is also under investigation by state authorities for allegedly evading insurance regulations. Sharity operates a healthcare sharing ministry that covers certain medical expenses submitted by its roughly 10,000 members from voluntary contributions made by other members, according to court papers. In October, New York state accused Aliera and Sharity of running a sham insurance business in a manner designed to evade regulation. Although Aliera and Sharity say they aren’t health insurers and don’t guarantee the payment of claims, they advertise in New York as healthcare alternatives, state officials said. A hearing on the New York matter is scheduled for this fall. Sharity has said that it pays a medical expense if it deems the request eligible and if there are enough member contributions to cover that expense. Regulators in California, New Jersey, Texas and Georgia are also investigating Sharity, according to court papers.

More than a dozen states have dropped their longstanding objections to OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s reorganization plan, edging the company closer to resolving its bankruptcy case and transforming itself into a new entity that helps combat the U.S. opioid epidemic through its own profits, the Associated Press reported. The agreement from multiple state attorneys general, including those who had most aggressively opposed Purdue’s original settlement proposal, was disclosed late Wednesday night in a filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in White Plains, N.Y. It followed weeks of intense mediations that resulted in changes to Purdue’s original exit plan. The new settlement terms call for Purdue to make tens of millions of internal documents public, a step several attorneys general, including those for Massachusetts and New York, had demanded as a way to hold the company accountable. Attorneys general for both states were among the 15 who agreed to the new plan, joining about half the states that had previously approved it. Nine states and the District of Columbia did not sign on. Purdue sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 as a way to settle about 3,000 lawsuits it faced from state and local governments and other entities. They claimed the company’s continued marketing of its powerful prescription painkiller contributed to a crisis that has been linked to nearly 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the last two decades.