Purdue Pharma Ceases Operations After Criminal Sentencing in Opioid Case

Jayde Newton helps to set up cardboard gravestones with the names of victims of opioid abuse outside the courthouse where the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy is taking place in White Plains, N.Y., on Aug. 9, 2021. (Seth Wenig/AP PhotoOxyContin manufacturer Purdue Pharma permanently ceased operations on May 1 after a federal judge sentenced the company to $5.5 billion in fines and penalties tied to its 2020 guilty plea to charges of deceiving government regulators and paying kickbacks to doctors to boost opioid sales. The ruling cleared the way for a broader $7.4 billion bankruptcy settlement resolving thousands of opioid lawsuits.The company will transfer its assets to Knoa Pharma LLC, a newly-formed company that will take over the distribution of medicines previously handled by Purdue, according to its website.