ANALYSIS: Opioid Bankruptcy Has a Surprise Public Benefit Debate

The public benefit corporation (PBC) has found itself smack dab in the middle of one of the largest DOJ settlement agreements with a pharmaceutical manufacturer ever. Purdue Pharma has agreed to plead guilty to three felony counts related to its marketing and sales of the painkiller OxyContin. The company has also agreed to pay a criminal fine of $3.5 billion, a criminal forfeiture of $2 billion, and a civil settlement of $2.8 billion.

There is a hitch. This is all subject to approval by the bankruptcy court in the Southern District of New York overseeing Purdue’s Chapter 11 filing. ...