CRIMINAL CAPITALI$M
Endo files for bankruptcy as U.S. opioid litigation drags
Tue, August 16, 2022
Aug 16 (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.
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)
Drugmaker Endo Files for Bankrupty Over Debt, US Opioid Litigation
Eliza Ronalds-Hannon and Steven Church
Tue, August 16, 2022
(Bloomberg) -- Drug manufacturer Endo International Plc filed for bankruptcy after being overwhelmed by litigation, including claims that it profited by helping fuel the US opioid epidemic.
The Dublin-based company said it had initiated voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. It also struck an agreement with a debt-holder group that is offering $6 billion for Endo’s assets and would take over certain liabilities.
“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,” Blaise Coleman, Endo’s president and chief executive officer was quoted as saying.
Endo’s secured creditors consented to the use of cash collateral to fund day-to-day business, a statement said.
By seeking protection from creditors, the company gains time to try to implement the restructuring plan it had been negotiating with senior lenders. The court filing also puts a temporary halt to all litigation Endo faces, allowing managers to negotiate a global deal to end the opioid lawsuits, which have been filed by states and local governments.
The company is the latest major opioid maker to seek bankruptcy protection after a wave of accusations they illegally marketed opioids tied to an epidemic of abuse that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Rivals Purdue Pharma LP and Mallinckrodt Plc each used court protection to finish working out settlements with groups that accused them of making the opioid addiction epidemic worse.
Following the bankruptcy filing, Massachusets Attorney General Maura Healey said officials had agreed on a settlement of as much as $450 million with Endo and its lenders. The deal would ban promotion of its opioids and require it to turn over documents.
On top of the opioid trials, which also involved peers Purdue Pharma LP and Mallinckrodt Plc, Endo was engaged in a Tennessee lawsuit it brought against competitors for patent infringement. The company also took a $1.75 billion writedown on its sterile injectables unit after concluding the value of the business had fallen.
Endo has settled some of the suits it faces, but has not announced the kind of global deal Purdue and Mallinckrodt reached before beginning their Chapter 11 cases.
Eliza Ronalds-Hannon and Steven Church
Tue, August 16, 2022
(Bloomberg) -- Drug manufacturer Endo International Plc filed for bankruptcy after being overwhelmed by litigation, including claims that it profited by helping fuel the US opioid epidemic.
The Dublin-based company said it had initiated voluntary Chapter 11 proceedings in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York. It also struck an agreement with a debt-holder group that is offering $6 billion for Endo’s assets and would take over certain liabilities.
“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,” Blaise Coleman, Endo’s president and chief executive officer was quoted as saying.
Endo’s secured creditors consented to the use of cash collateral to fund day-to-day business, a statement said.
By seeking protection from creditors, the company gains time to try to implement the restructuring plan it had been negotiating with senior lenders. The court filing also puts a temporary halt to all litigation Endo faces, allowing managers to negotiate a global deal to end the opioid lawsuits, which have been filed by states and local governments.
The company is the latest major opioid maker to seek bankruptcy protection after a wave of accusations they illegally marketed opioids tied to an epidemic of abuse that killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.
Rivals Purdue Pharma LP and Mallinckrodt Plc each used court protection to finish working out settlements with groups that accused them of making the opioid addiction epidemic worse.
Following the bankruptcy filing, Massachusets Attorney General Maura Healey said officials had agreed on a settlement of as much as $450 million with Endo and its lenders. The deal would ban promotion of its opioids and require it to turn over documents.
On top of the opioid trials, which also involved peers Purdue Pharma LP and Mallinckrodt Plc, Endo was engaged in a Tennessee lawsuit it brought against competitors for patent infringement. The company also took a $1.75 billion writedown on its sterile injectables unit after concluding the value of the business had fallen.
Endo has settled some of the suits it faces, but has not announced the kind of global deal Purdue and Mallinckrodt reached before beginning their Chapter 11 cases.
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