Purdue’s Guilty Pleas

Purdue’s 2007 Plea Agreement

The investigation examined Purdue’s conduct until the time of the agreement, and concluded improper activities occurred prior to mid-2001. The investigation found no suggestion of any wrongdoing by any member of the Sackler family. 

Purdue pleaded guilty to a felony and three senior executives pleaded guilty to a strict liability misdemeanor offense of misbranding a drug in violation of Title 21. After a thorough investigation, no member of the Sackler family was charged.^{[1] [2]} There was also no finding that Purdue’s conduct directly caused harm to patients who were prescribed OxyContin.

“Courts have consistently found that despite extensive discovery, plaintiffs were unable to show that Purdue’s misbranding proximately caused their injuries.”

Order, United States v. The Purdue Frederick Company, Inc., et al, Case No. 1:07CR00029, July 2007^[3]

Purdue’s 2020 Plea Agreement

Purdue agreed to acknowledge the following improper conduct occurred between 2007-June 2017:

• Some doctors who should have been on the “Region Zero” list were improperly visited by salespeople, and the DEA was misled.
• Two doctors were improperly paid speaking fees.
• Engagement of “Practice Fusion” to provide alerts in electronic health records was improper.

No Sackler family member was an executive at Purdue during this time period. The Sackler family’s civil resolution with the DoJ was separate from Purdue’s guilty plea, no Sackler family member has been charged and the Sackler family vigorously denies any wrongdoing.

“… it’s a prescription pharmaceutical that does have some positive uses and that maintaining the supply of those is itself something that could be beneficial.”

Deputy Attorney General Jeffrey Rosen, October 2020^[4]