WASHINGTON – Purdue Pharma, the company that makes OxyContin, the powerful prescription painkiller that experts say helped touch off an opioid epidemic, will plead guilty to three federal criminal charges as part of a settlement of more than $8 billion, Justice Department officials announced Wednesday.
To Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, the Justice Department “failed” and she said in a statement that she was not done with either Purdue or the Sacklers.
Purdue will make a direct payment to the government of $225 million, which is part of a larger $2 billion criminal forfeiture.
About half the states oppose that settlement, and also wrote Barr to ask him not to make the federal deal that includes converting Purdue into a public benefit corporation.
As the maker of the best-known prescription opioid, Purdue is the highest-profile player in the opioid crisis, but it’s far from the other one.