2024-02-02 09:51:14
By Le Figaro with AFP
Published yesterday at 7:20 p.m., Updated now
The opioid crisis has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths in the United States since 1999. BENOIT TESSIER / REUTERS
All states as well as several American territories will receive a share of this amount set as part of an agreement with Publicis Health.
Hundreds of thousands of deaths since 1999. The opioid crisis in the United States affects a subsidiary of the French advertising giant Publicis. She will have to pay $350 million to the United States for her role in this crisis, the New York State Attorney’s Office announced Thursday in a press release. It is the first advertising agency to reach a settlement with the courts for its role in the opioid crisis.
All states as well as several American territories will receive a share of the compensation set under this agreement with Publicis Health. California is to receive the largest amount ($34 million), ahead of Florida ($24.10 million) and Texas ($21.59 million). New York State is due to get almost 19 million.
“For a decade, Publicis helped opioid manufacturers like Purdue Pharma convince doctors to overprescribe opioids, directly fueling the opioid crisis and causing extinctions across the country.”noted Letitia James, New York State prosecutor, quoted in the press release.
She believes that Publicis has “developed predatory and deceptive marketing strategies for Purdue Pharma to increase prescriptions and sales of opioids”. According to her, the advertising agency created flyers describing OxyContin as a treatment “safe and incapable of causing misuse”.
More than 700,000 dead
The Purdue laboratory produces the pain medication OxyContin, the overprescription of which is generally considered to be the trigger of the opioid crisis in the United States. According to data from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC), more than 700,000 people died between 1999 and 2022 from an overdose linked to taking opiates, obtained on prescription or illegally.
Publicis Health subsequently indicated, in a press release, that the activities concerned had been carried out by the Rosetta agency, purchased in 2011 and closed ten years ago. “This settlement agreement allows us to close three years of discussion, and concludes with a net payment of 148 million euros”she added, affirming that it did not represent an admission of fault or responsibility. “We will defend ourselves, if necessary, against any dispute that this agreement fails to resolve”assured Publicis Health.
Work “perfectly compliant with the law”
The group, which had made a provision in its accounts for the fourth quarter of 2023 with a view to this transaction, specified to AFP that the total compensation represented 343 million dollars to which are added 7 million in legal costs.
The agency also claimed that the work done by Rosetta “on behalf of pharmaceutical companies and covered by this regulation has always been fully compliant with the law”.
The Purdue laboratory in bankruptcy
Targeted by an avalanche of lawsuits, the Purdue laboratory declared bankruptcy in 2019 and has since negotiated a plan, the latest version of which provides for its closure by 2024 in the United States for the benefit of a new entity and the payment of at least $5.5 billion over 18 years.
Large drug distributors like CVS, Walgreens and Walmart have also been sued. The prosecutor’s office says it has recovered more than $2.7 billion from prosecutions since 2019.
He also announced a second agreement on Thursday: the Hikma Pharmaceuticals laboratory, headquartered in the United Kingdom, will pay $150 million to several American states for its role in the opioid crisis. “Between 2006 and 2021, Hikma failed to monitor or report suspicious orders for opiates from potentially illegal distributors”explained the prosecutor’s office in a press release.
The group specified in its own press release that this agreement in principle resolved “the vast majority of prosecutions” launched against him in the United States, and that it did not represent an admission of guilt or responsibility.
”
data-script=”
>
#Publicis #pay #million #role #opioid #crisis