Connecticut-based drug maker Purdue Pharma introduced Steve Miller, a corporate restructuring specialist, as its new board chairman this week. In addition, attorney Mark Kesselman has been appointed general counsel.
The 76-year-old Miller has spent much of his career helping corporations work through challenges, including Chrysler in 1981.
The embattled maker of OxyContin, the opioid painkiller, is facing hundreds of lawsuits filed by cities, counties and states across the country. The company is blamed for adding to the current opioid epidemic by downplaying the risks of addiction to OxyContin.
Purdue Pharma, headquartered in Stamford, eliminated its entire sales force this year after announcing it would cease promotion of opioid pain killers to doctors in the U.S.
The company has denied any complicity in the opioid epidemic and says it is committed to curbing opioid abuse.
