Oct 16 (Reuters) - Drugstore chain Rite Aid is the latest U.S.
company to seek bankruptcy protection following pressure from lawsuits alleging
that they helped fuel the opioid crisis.
    Opioid drugs have been one of the major causes of the more than one million
deaths since 1999 tied to drug overdose, according to data from U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
    Litigation against drugmakers, pharmacies and distributors, claiming that
drugmakers downplayed the risks of opioids and that distributors and pharmacies
failed to prevent them from being diverted to the illegal market has resulted in
more than $50 billion in total settlements.
    Here is a list of companies forced to file for bankruptcy protection, mainly
due to U.S. opioid lawsuits and settlements.
    
 COMPANY              BANKRUPTCY    DETAILS
                      FILING DATE   
 RITE Aid             October 2023  Rite Aid files for bankruptcy protection and
                                    says it will close underperforming stores.
                                    The company adds it has received a commitment
                                    for $3.45 billion from some lenders to stay
                                    afloat during the bankruptcy process.
 Mallinckrodt         August 2023   Ireland-based drugmaker files for its second
                                    bankruptcy in the United States in a move
                                    that reduced $1 billion from what it owes to
                                    victims of the U.S. opioid crisis. 
 Endo International   August 2022   U.S. drugmaker files for bankruptcy seeking
                                    to settle thousands of lawsuits over its
                                    alleged role in the opioid epidemic. 
 Rochester Drug       March 2020    Drug distributor files for bankruptcy, nearly
 Co-operative                       a year after it became the first
                                    pharmaceutical distributor to be criminally
                                    charged in relation to the opioid crisis.
 Purdue Pharma        September     OxyContin maker files for bankruptcy as part
                      2019          of proposed $10 billion settlement for its
                                    creditors, individual victims of addiction
                                    and others who sued the company. The US
                                    Supreme Court halts settlement in August 
                                    after government challenges its legality amid
                                    concerns it would shield its wealthy owners,
                                    the Sackler family.
 Insys Therapeutics   June 2019     The drugmaker files for bankruptcy protection
                                    amid mounting expenses driven by a U.S.
                                    Justice Department probe into claims it paid
                                    doctors bribes to prescribe a powerful opioid
                                    medication.
 
 (Reporting by Pratik Jain and Leroy Leo in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)