The fate of billions for Sacklers’ opioid victims rests with the Supreme Court

The speed with which the court scheduled the case may reflect its awareness of the opioid problem. But legal experts said the ruling is unlikely to address the public health crisis. According to them, the court will focus exclusively on the liability shield, an increasingly popular but controversial bankruptcy tactic.

“I am confident, however, that even if the opioid crisis is not addressed anywhere in the opinion, the court should take into account that cities, states, and individuals have been desperately waiting for these funds. They need to know the answer to this question so they can figure out what to do next,” he said Adam Zimmermanwho teaches mass tort law at the University of Southern California Gould School of Law.

While numerous pharmaceutical companies have been sued for their role in the opioid epidemic, the Sacklers and Purdue loom large in the story of the complex, decades-old crisis. Their signature drug, OxyContin, which was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in late 1995, became a game changer in a new market hungry for prescription painkillers. To the medical establishment, which then began to recognize pain as a “fifth vital sign,” long-acting OxyContin seemed like a miracle drug.

Purdue became known for lavish sales conferences at which pain physicians trained and hired by the company falsely claimed that the risk of addiction to OxyContin was extremely low. By 2007, Purdue and three of its top executives had paid fines of $634.5 million and pleaded guilty to federal criminal charges of misleading regulators, doctors and patients about the drug’s potential for abuse.

The steep fines did not deter Purdue from continuing to aggressively market OxyContin.

Eventually, attention turned to the Sacklers themselves, some of whom served as board members of Purdue and made major charitable donations to medical schools and museums. In return, the institutions renamed buildings after the Sacklers. But as the family saga appeared in books, television series and documentaries and their fame grew, most stripped the Sackler name from their properties and distanced themselves from Purdue’s owners.