OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma is set to dissolve and be replaced with a new company operating in the public interest under the settlement of thousands of lawsuits that goes into effect Friday.
It's among the largest in a series of settlements over the toll of opioids over the past several years. It's particularly prominent because some people pin the nation's opioid epidemic to the sales efforts behind OxyContin, a powerful prescription painkiller that became available in 1996.
