Pharma Giant Purdue Sentenced to $5.5 Billion For ‘Fueling The Opioid Epidemic’

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma was sentenced in a New Jersey federal court on Tuesday to pay over $5 billion in criminal penalties for “fueling” the U.S.’ opioid epidemic.

From 2007 and 2017, Purdue unlawfully promoted its opioid products to hundreds of prescribers it had reason to suspect were issuing prescriptions without a legitimate medical purpose, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced. The company also misled the Drug Enforcement Administration about how effective its anti-diversion programs were and relied on counts from questionable prescribers to support deceptive requests to increase production quotas, the Department said. 

Additionally, Purdue paid kickbacks to prescribers through its doctor speaker program and to an electronic health record platform, according to the DOJ.

“Purdue Pharma put profits over patient health and safety,” Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a statement. “The company willfully rejected the law and ignored the diversion of their highly addictive prescription drugs. Their actions contributed to the opioid crisis that claimed countless lives and destroyed entire families and communities.”

“Today’s sentence is a prime example of the Department’s effort to redress past wrongs by rooting out and punishing unlawful conduct by companies that have contributed to the national crisis,” Blanche continued.

“On April 28, 2026, the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey sentenced Purdue Pharma L.P. in connection with its 2020 Plea Agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice,” Purdue said in a