Purdue Pharma released its "Denver Plan" -- how it will distribute $7 billion in opioid lawsuit settlement money -- following West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey's objection Friday to the pharmaceutical company keeping that plan out of the public view.
With that plan's release, Morrisey voiced his displeasure with how the plan doles out that money among the states, a format he believes shortchanges West Virginia
Purdue's distribution plan is based on a state or local government's population, not the intensity of the opioid crisis in that state or municipality. According to the state attorney general's website, West Virginia has one of the highest rates in the country of non-medical use of opioid pain medication among people ages 19-25.
Opioids are the top cause of death associated with drug overdoses and, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, in 2014, the overdose death rate in West Virginia, 35.5 deaths per 100,000 residents, was more than double the national average, 14.7 deaths per 100,000 residents.
"West Virginia and our supporting counties and municipalities oppose settlement distributions largely based on population," Morrisey said. "Such proposals fail to recognize the disproportionate harm caused by opioids in West Virginia, and we must work toward providing just accountability in West Virginia and the nation."
Morrisey's objection Friday, filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York, had argued that Purdue's failure to disclose terms of the ultimate distribution plan undermines its desire to avoid court challenges to an inherently inequitable arrangement.
The objection further argued that an allocation plan based upon population -- with only minimal consideration given to the intensity of the addiction epidemic -- will render the broader bankruptcy plan unconfirmable since it would fail to account in any meaningful way for the great disparities in intensity of opioid addiction and opioid death that exist between the states.
Morrisey filed suit against Purdue Pharma and former chief executive Richard Sackler in May 2019. The lawsuit alleges Purdue Pharma created a false narrative to convince prescribers that opioids are not addictive and that its opioid products were safer than they actually were.
That lawsuit marked West Virginia's second against Purdue Pharma. The first, filed in 2001, resulted in a $10 million settlement in 2004. That case involved an earlier version of the opioid than the reformulated, so-called tamper-resistant OxyContin that debuted in 2010.