Owner: Purdue hoped tamper-resistant Oxy could help crisis

By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press

A member of the family that owns Purdue Pharma said they had hoped that increasing sales of an abuse-deterrent version of OxyContin would help get the U.S. opioid crisis under control. Mortimer D.A. Sackler testified in U.S. Bankruptcy Court on Thursday and was the third member of the wealthy family to testify in the confirmation hearing over Purdue’s restructuring plan. The plan seeks to settle 3,000 lawsuits faced by the Connecticut-based company. After Purdue introduced its harder-to-tamper version of the powerful painkiller about decade ago, there was actually an increase in overdoses from illicit opioids such as heroin and fentanyl.