What was Mallinckrodt's role in the opioid crisis?
As the largest US generic opioid manufacturer, Mallinckrodt agreed to pay $1.6 billion into a trust to settle opioid claims — then used a second bankruptcy to cut that obligation to $700 million total.
Through its specialty generics business, Mallinckrodt was the largest generic opioid manufacturer in the United States, producing large volumes of oxycodone and hydrocodone. States and local governments sued it as part of the national opioid litigation. In 2020, Mallinckrodt reached a settlement framework committing it to pay $1.6 billion over eight years into a trust, facilitated by a Chapter 11 filing, and the company's first reorganisation plan took effect in 2022.
Under the framework, the settlement was paired with warrants for 19.99% of Mallinckrodt's shares, and the opioid claims were channelled through a filing by its specialty generics subsidiaries. Critics argued that, like Purdue, Mallinckrodt was able to use bankruptcy to cap its liability for its role in a crisis that devastated communities.