Purdue University: School has no connection to Purdue Pharma

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) - Purdue University wants the public to know that it has no connection to a company blamed for helping drive the nation's opioid crisis.

The university has spent years repeating that it has no affiliation to Purdue Pharma, the Stamford, Connecticut-based pharmaceutical company that's the maker of the prescription painkiller OxyContin.

But university spokesman Tim Doty says the news that Purdue Pharma is negotiating a multibillion-dollar settlement to resolve lawsuits over the opioid crisis is a good time for the school to repeat that "That's not us."

The Journal & Courier reports that Purdue University was founded in 1869 as Indiana's land-grant institution, and is named for benefactor John Purdue.

Purdue Pharma was founded in Manhattan in 1892 by John Purdue Gray and George Frederick Bingham as the Purdue Frederick Company.

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Information from: Journal and Courier, http://www.jconline.com