Follow The Drug Money Where did billions of it go?

摘要

As the U.S. bumbles its way through the coronavirus pandemic, it can be easy to overlook the opioid epidemic that's shattered so many lives. But a trove of documents that Bloomberg BusinessWeek has spent months analyzing helps explain how the company at the center of the crisis moved money around in the years prior to declaring bankruptcy. Purdue Pharma LP faced its first court challenge in 2007, pleading guilty to misleading the public about the addictive potential of its flagship painkiller, OxyContin. By 2019 more than 130 people were dying daily from opioid overdoses in the U.S., and Purdue faced thousands of lawsuits for its role in the epidemic. The company, owned by the Sackler family, declared bankruptcy in September of that year to short-circuit the lawsuits.