Endo International, an Ireland and Malvern, Pa.-based pharmaceutical company, filed for bankruptcy Aug. 16 as it shoulders about 31,000 lawsuits accusing the company of fueling the opioid crisis, according to The Wall Street Journal.
Endo followed a strategy other pharmaceutical businesses are employing: Bankruptcy code Chapter 11. The code acts as a shield for companies at large, as it allows debtors to create a new business responsible for debts and lawsuits, which J&J is also trying to use for its own pile of opioid lawsuits.
The global drugmaker filed for bankruptcy in New York Aug. 16, reporting it faces $8 billion in debt, legal costs for its opioid cases and competition from companies making generics, according to the Journal.
Thanks to protections from Chapter 11, creditors will pull the parent company from bankruptcy in exchange for $6 billion in debt forgiveness.
Endo has won a few opioid cases, including one filed in 2014, but has already shelled out about $242 million in settlements and $344 million in legal costs, according to the Journal.