Endo files for bankruptcy as U.S. opioid
litigation drags
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 [August 17, 2022]
(Reuters) -Endo International Plc
filed for bankruptcy on Tuesday after reaching a $6 billion deal with
some of its creditors, as the U.S. drugmaker seeks to settle thousands
of lawsuits over its alleged role in the country's opioid epidemic.
The pharmaceutical company is the latest to file for Chapter 11 to
address opioid claims. Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, filed in
September 2019, while Mallinckrodt Plc, a generic opioid manufacturer,
recently emerged from bankruptcy.
"By definitively addressing the more than $8 billion of debt that has
burdened our balance sheet and establishing a pathway to closure with
respect to the thousands of opioid-related and other lawsuits that the
company has been defending at an unsustainable cost, we will be able to
move forward...," Endo's Chief Executive Officer Blaise Coleman said in
a statement.
The company's Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing in the Southern District of
New York showed assets and liabilities in the range of $1 billion to $10
billion.
The creditors, who will also assume some of the company's liabilities,
will substantially control all of its assets, Endo said.
The company also reached a deal with U.S. state attorneys general to
provide $450 million over a period of 10 years, resolving allegations
that the company boosted opioid sales using deceptive marketing, and
bans the marketing of its opioids forever, according to the office of
Massachusetts AG.
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A full syringe, empty syringe and spoon
sit on the roof of the car in which a man in his 20's overdosed on
an opioid in the Boston suburb of Lynn, Massachusetts, August 14,
2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder/File Photo
Creditors will also establish voluntary trusts with $550 million to be
funded over 10 years to settle the opioid claims, the company said.
Endo has been discussing the possibility of filing for bankruptcy
protection in several recent filings.
In June, the drugmaker missed a $38 million interest payment, amid
discussions with a group of unsecured bondholders who had urged the
company to avoid filing for bankruptcy.
(Reporting by Jahnavi Nidumolu and Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Editing
by Neha Arora, Rashmi Aich and Sriraj Kalluvila)
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