Comer: Purdue Pharma and Sackler Family Hold Tremendous Responsibility for Growing Opioid Epidemic

Criticizes Democrats for potentially damaging victims’ families ability to get restitution

WASHINGTON—House Committee on Oversight and Reform Ranking Member James Comer (R-Ky.) opened today’s hearing outlining the destructive role Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family played in catalyzing and exacerbating the opioid epidemic. Ranking Member Comer also emphasized his disappointment with Committee Democrats for endangering a settlement agreement by pursuing this hearing in the middle of mediation saying, “There’s too much at risk. I hope that having this hearing today does not delay a settlement and result in victims getting less restitution from Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family.”

Congresswoman Carol Miller (R-W. Va.) described the severe destruction the opioid epidemic has had on West Virginia. She described the experience of meeting affected families, saying, “As a result of this epidemic, families have been decimated. Children are growing up without parents. And, I can tell you about those babies that are being born exposed in the womb. For every thousand babies born in West Virginia, 56.2 are born exposed to opioids. I have sat with those mothers who have made the courageous decision to seek treatment, and I have held those babies struggling with symptoms of withdrawal. It is heartbreaking. This epidemic is shaping generations across my state and many others.”

Below are Ranking Member Comer’s remarks as prepared for delivery.
The opioid epidemic has caused untold harm to millions of Americans, and, in my district in rural Kentucky, thousands of my constituents have lost friends and loved ones to this scourge. Before us today we have one of the largest manufacturers of opioids in the country, and the family that profited off the epidemic perhaps more than any other.

Over the past twenty years, Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, which has owned Purdue Pharma since the 1950s and had many family members in senior leadership and on the board of the company, have made billions from the proliferation of opioids. They have consistently spread lies in order to minimize the harmful effects of opioids and increase the numbers of Americans on their drug OxyContin.

Purdue Pharma created false advertising documents to provide doctors and patients illustrating that time-released OxyContin was less addictive than other immediate release alternatives. Furthermore, they sought out doctors who were more likely to prescribe opioids and encouraged them to prescribe OxyContin because it was safer. They did this because OxyContin quickly became a cash cow for the company.

In 2007, these lies resulted in Purdue Pharma pleading guilty to felony charges of misbranding OxyContin and paying more than $600 million in criminal penalties. However, this did not stop Purdue’s marketing campaign–it just sent it underground.

Purdue spent the next decade misleading the DEA, defrauding the United States, paying kickbacks to companies that would steer patients onto OxyContin, and exacerbating the opioid epidemic. All the while the Sackler family profited immensely from the deaths of millions of Americans.

Since the 2007 settlement, more than 2,600 federal and state lawsuits were brought against Purdue seeking restitution for the pain and suffering caused by Purdue and the Sackler family. During this time the Sacklers began taking money out of the company, over $10 billion worth. Known by Forbes magazine as the “OxyContin Clan,” the Sacklers are now one of the 15 wealthiest families in the country, even richer than the Rockefellers.

In September of 2019, Purdue filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in an effort to settle these suits based on the company’s role in the opioid crisis.

In October of this year Purdue again pled guilty to criminal charges related to its marketing of OxyContin, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and violations of the anti-kickback statute. Additionally, Purdue reached a civil settlement with DOJ of more than $8.3 billion in civil penalties from Purdue, the dissolution of Purdue Pharma, and $225 million in civil penalties from the Sackler family.

However, October’s settlement does not conclude the bankruptcy negotiations that are still ongoing. These negotiations could result in billions in restitution for American families.

Madam Chairwoman I support this hearing as you mentioned in your opening statement. However, I am concerned that holding this hearing in the midst of multi-billion dollar settlement negotiations will delay and reduce needed restitution for millions of Americans. We talked with the mediator leading the negotiations and no party thought having this hearing right now was a good idea. I told you this before the hearing was scheduled for the first time and asked you to delay the hearing until January. You scheduled it anyway. Then, after realizing the mistake, you canceled the hearing.

Yet now the hearing is back on. And why? I hope it’s not because of a New York Times op-ed pressuring you to move forward. Madam Chair, you can’t be influenced by a single law professional. There’s too much at risk. I hope that having this hearing today does not delay a settlement and result in victims getting less restitution from Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family.

In this committee, we should do more than identify a problem and benefit from a short-term media mention. We should hold people accountable. I want to hold Purdue Pharma accountable, and I sure as hell don’t want to do anything that will help the Sackler family in any court of law.

I yield the remainder of my time to the Chairwoman for her response.