Purdue Pharma, Sackler family to pay $7.4 billion in settlement to OxyContin lawsuits
Members of the Sackler family, who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, and the company itself agreed to pay up to $7.4 billion in a settlement to lawsuits over the toll of the opioid painkiller.
Members of the family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, and the company itself, agreed to pay up to $7.4 billion in a new settlement to lawsuits over the toll of the powerful prescription painkiller, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Thursday.
The deal, agreed to by Purdue Pharma, the Sackler family members who own the company and lawyers representing state and local governments and thousands of victims of the opioid crisis, represents an increase of more than $1 billion over a previous settlement deal that was rejected last year by the U.S. Supreme Court.
The Sacklers agreed to pay up to $6.5 billion, Purdue to pay $900 million, for a total of $7.4 billion.
It’s among the largest settlements reached over the past several years in a series of lawsuits by local, state, Native American tribal governments and others seeking to hold companies responsible for a deadly epidemic. Aside from the Purdue deal, others worth around $50 billion have been announced — and most of the money is required to be used to stem the crisis.
A pharmacist holds a bottle OxyContin made by Purdue Pharma at a pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on May 9, 2019.George Frey / Reuters fileThe deal still needs court approval, and some of the details are yet to be ironed out. An arm of the federal Department of Justice opposed the previous settlement, even after every state got on board, and took the battle to the U.S. Supreme Court. But under President Donald Trump, the federal government is not expected to oppose the new deal.
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