Press Release  State Attorneys General Reach $450 Million Nationwide Settlement as Part of Opioid Maker Endo’s Bankruptcy

BOSTON — Attorney General Maura Healey has reached an agreement in principle with opioid maker Endo International plc and its lenders that would provide up to $450 million to participating states and local governments, ban promotion of Endo’s opioids, and require Endo to turn over millions of documents related to its role in the opioid crisis for publication in a public online archive.  

The agreement in principle with Endo, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Tuesday night in the Southern District of New York, resolves allegations that Endo boosted opioid sales using deceptive marketing that downplayed the risk of addiction and overstated the benefits. Endo, an Ireland-based drugmaker with its U.S. headquarters in Malvern, Pennsylvania, makes generic and branded opioids including Percocet and Endocet, and also made Opana ER, which was withdrawn from the market in 2017. The states allege that Endo falsely promoted the benefits of Opana ER’s so-called abuse-deterrent formulation, which did nothing to deter oral abuse and led to deadly outbreaks of Hepatitis and HIV due to its widespread abuse via injection. 

“Endo’s deceptive marketing fueled the opioid crisis and caused a massive human toll,” said AG Healey. “The money recovered from this settlement will help to fund treatment, harm reduction and prevention throughout the country, and the ban on promotion and document disclosure requirements will ensure this never happens again.”

The resolution, which is contingent on final documentation and Bankruptcy Court approval, involves the following:  

• Requires payment of $450 million in cash over 10 years to participating states and subdivisions.
• Requires Endo to turn over its opioid-related documents for publication online in a public document archive and pay $2.75 million for archival expenses.
• Bans the marketing of Endo’s opioids forever. 

The negotiations are being led by the following states: Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont, and Virginia. The settlement is also joined by the attorneys general of Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, North Carolina, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

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