Commentary by Christian Brunnstrom, research analyst, ESG & impact investing
Endo International filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday, amid more than $8 billion in debt, competition from generic manufacturers and opioid litigation. The Irish drugmaker's social reputation has been damaged by thousands of lawsuits alleging that it helped fuel the opioid crisis in the U.S. More than 500,000 people have died as a result of the epidemic since 1999, according to federal data. While Endo has settled some of the lawsuits, it still faces about 3,500 lawsuits from state and local governments, private healthcare providers and individuals, according to company filings. The company's president and chief executive said Tuesday that the chapter 11 filing provides the means to close the opioid lawsuits in a cost-sustainable way, including setting up $550 million in trusts to pay out opioid plaintiffs over 10 years. In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration requested that Endo stop selling its opioid painkiller Opana, saying that its benefits no longer outweighed its risks, citing the public-health consequences of abuse.
Write to Christian Brunnstrom at christian.brunnstrom@wsj.com
ESG Insights are written by The Wall Street Journal's ESG research analysts, whose commentary is independent of the news coverage by reporters at the Journal.
$(END)$ Dow Jones Newswires
August 17, 2022 10:24 ET (14:24 GMT)
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