The multibillion-dollar settlement that the maker of OxyContin is negotiating to settle a crush of lawsuits over the nation’s opioid crisis contains formulas for dividing up the money among state and local governments across the country, The Associated Press has learned.

 

The formulas would take into account the number of people in a given jurisdiction who misuse opioids, the number of overdose deaths and other factors, according to a person familiar with the talks but not authorized to discuss them publicly.

 

Spelling out the way the settlement is to be split could forestall squabbles over the money and avoid what some see as the mistakes made with the hundreds of billions of dollars received under the nationwide settlement with Big Tobacco during the 1990s.

 

Activists have complained that precious little of the money from the tobacco industry went toward anti-smoking programs and too much was diverted toward state budget holes, pensions and other things unrelated to smoking’s toll

 

[Read “Big Question in Opioid Suits: How to Divide Any Settlement”]

 

In the case of the opioid litigation, some of the plaintiffs have said they want direct control over the money to make sure it goes toward treating and preventing addiction and covering some of the taxpayer costs associated with the deadly epidemic, including mental health services, police calls and foster care for children of addicts.

 

As an example of the proposed formulas, Cabell County, West Virginia, a hard-hit part of Appalachia, and the local governments in it would get a total of $975,000 for every $1 billion in the settlement. Philadelphia would receive $6.5 million.

 

Under the plan now on the table, Purdue Pharma would file for bankruptcy and transform itself into a “public benefit trust corporation,” with all profits from drug sales and other proceeds going to the plaintiffs, news reports said.

 

[NOTE: According to the WSJ, the Slackers sold U.K.-based Mundipharma, a last-minute addition to the deal presented last week. The company was valued at $7 billion in 2017. Mundipharma is a network of international companies owned by the family. It is moving rapidly into Latin America, Asia, the Middle East, Africa and other regions, and pushing for broad use of painkillers in places ill-prepared to deal with the ravages of opioid abuse and addiction. In this global drive, Mundipharma, is using some of the same controversial marketing practices that made OxyContin a pharmaceutical blockbuster in the U.S.

 

Read “The Pain in Spain: OxyContin Sales Shrink in U.S., So Purdue #Pharma Goes Global!”; http://sco.lt/8jHyQS]

 

Related Story:

• “OxyContin/Opioid Maker Purdue Pharma Offers a $10-$12 Billion Deal to Fend Off Law Suits, Prevent Further Damage to Its Image, and Open Up a Market for Its New Drug to Treat Overdoses!”; http://sco.lt/8jHyQS