Drug retailer Ceremony Assist information for chapter amid rising debt, opioid litigation

Oct 16 (Reuters) – Debt-laden Ceremony Assist (RAD.N) filed for chapter safety on Sunday and mentioned it will shut underperforming shops, as the pharmacy chain comes underneath stress from lawsuits alleging that it helped gas the U.S. opioid disaster.

The submitting will permit it to resolve litigation claims in an “equitable method”, the corporate mentioned, including it has acquired a dedication for $3.45 billion from some lenders, which can present liquidity through the chapter course of.

Ceremony Assist, which started as a thrift store in 1962, turned the third largest U.S. chain of drugstores in lower than 20 years with greater than 2,000 retail shops in 17 states.

However it was pummeled by lawsuits alleging pharmacies contributed to an oversupply of prescription opioids, which has performed a serious position within the greater than 1 million deaths attributable to drug overdoses in the USA since 1999.

Ceremony Assist had a complete debt of $8.60 billion as of June 3, in accordance with a submitting with the U.S. Chapter Court docket for the District of New Jersey, a few of which is due in 2025. It additionally listed complete belongings of $7.65 billion.

The corporate appointed Jeffrey Stein as its CEO and chief restructuring officer, changing interim CEO Elizabeth Burr. It mentioned it can switch workers at underperforming shops that will be closed to different areas the place attainable.

Ceremony Assist joins a number of corporations, together with Mallinckrodt, which have filed for chapter attributable to lawsuits over the U.S. opioid disaster.

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