A US federal judge criminally sentenced OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma over its role in the opioid crisis, ahead of upcoming bankruptcy proceedings and its dissolution.
Last year, several US states reached a settlement with Purdue and the Sackler family, which had owned the company for decades, with a bankruptcy plan that will see funds routed to affected communities and individuals.
The total amount to be paid in fines, forfeitures and penalties surpasses $8bn.
Purdue and other opioid makers and distributors were accused of encouraging free-wheeling prescription of their products through aggressive marketing tactics while hiding how addictive the drugs are.
The company is set to be dissolved on 1 May, with the remnants becoming Knoa Pharma, a public benefit company that will provide opioid use disorder treatments and overdose reversal medicines.
For more than six hours yesterday, US Judge Madeline Cox Arleo listened to dozens of victims and their families testify about the impact Purdue Pharma and the opioid epidemic had on them.
She then ordered Steve Miller, Purdue Pharma's board chair, to apologise to them.
During the proceedings to resolve a Department of Justice probe and clear the way for bankruptcy, Arleo read the names of more than 200 victims who had submitted written statements before the hearing.
"These people are not statistics in an epidemiological study," she said, adding that the testimonies were "heartbreaking."
The judge also apologised on behalf of the US government, saying it had "failed" to protect the public from Purdue Pharma, whose practices were "driven by greed" and had a "corporate strategy much like a criminal enterprise".
While many testifying urged the settlement agreement to be rejected - in part because it protects the Sackler family from criminal prosecution - Judge Arleo called it the "best route I see among the options before me".
She urged the lawyers handling the bankruptcy proceedings to honour their promises of compensation.
For many people, opioid addiction begins with prescribed pain pills, such as OxyContin, before they increase their consumption and eventually turn to illicit drugs such as heroin and fentanyl, an extremely powerful synthetic opioid.
From 1999 through 2023, around 806,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the US, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
