The recent $7.4 billion bankruptcy settlement by Purdue Pharma in the US for selling the highly addictive opioid OxyContin (Oxycodene) has put the spotlight on the group’s British subsidiary Napp Pharmaceuticals, which is a major manufacturer of medicines in the palliative care sector.
The settlement last November in a US bankruptcy court ended a six-year legal battle and ruled that the disgraced Sackler family pay $7 billion to US government groups and families affected by the opioid crisis.
As part of the settlement, Purdue Pharma will be reorganised as Knoa Pharma in a corporate structure known as a public benefit corporation. The new PBC structure prioritises both profits and social good and proceeds from the new entity will fund treatments for opioid addiction.
Questions have been raised about the long-term future of Purdue’s subsidiaries outside the US which include Napp Pharmaceuticals, Mundipharma and Qdem Pharmaceuticals. Both Napp and Qdem Pharmaceuticals have a strong presence with a dominant share of the palliative care market.
It is uncertain whether Napp, Mundipharma and Qdem will be sold to help fund the settlement or incorporated within Knoa Pharma.
There is intense speculation within the market as to the long term future of the companies with the likelihood of them being sold rather than the sale of individual molecules.
A joint investigation by Washington Post and The Examination in 2024 had stated that Sacklers had begun selling off international businesses even before the US settlement negotiations ended. They stated that Sackler had sold a brand portfolio led by antiseptic spray Betadine to iNova Pharmaceuticals in 2023 in a deal valued at $540 million.
Napp’s portfolio also covers consumer health, anti-infectives, biosimilars, CNS, diabetes, oncology, ophthalmology, respiratory and transplantation immunity.
However, Mundipharma told Pharmacy Business that it is a separate independent company with limited business interactions with Purdue US.
They claimed they will be completely independent of Knoa Pharma.
Mundipharma also added that it has never sold opioid medicines in the United States, and none of its companies were subject to the Purdue Pharma US bankruptcy legal proceedings.
The Sackler family acquired Napp in 1966 and it is now part of Mundipharma, a privately-held company that caters to the family’s businesses outside the US. Mundipharma has operations in Europe, Asia, Latin America and Africa.
OxyContin, a slow-release pain-killer, was blamed for the deadly opioid crisis in the US and faced thousands of lawsuits.
Purdue and the Sackler family were accused of misleading doctors and patients over its addiction and overdose risks, and stripped from the ownership of the company.
