Purdue Pharma, Sacklers to pay $7.4 billion in new opioid settlement drugs news
New York Attorney General Letitia James says OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and members of the family that owns the company agreed to pay up to $7.4 billion in a new settlement to end lawsuits over the toll of the powerful prescription painkiller. Is of.
The deal announced Thursday represents an increase of more than $1 billion over a previous agreement that was struck down by the United States Supreme Court last year. The settlement was agreed to by Purdue Pharma, members of the company’s owner Sackler family, state and local governments, and lawyers representing thousands of victims of the opioid crisis.
The Sacklers agreed to pay $6.5 billion and Purdue agreed to pay up to $900 million.
It is one of the largest settlements reached in the past several years in a series of lawsuits brought by local, state and Native American tribal governments and other plaintiffs seeking to hold opioid-making companies responsible for the deadly addiction epidemic. In addition to the Purdue deal, about $50 billion worth of other announcements have been made – and most of the money is required to be used to stem the crisis.
The deal still requires court approval, and some details are still to be finalized. A branch of the US Justice Department opposed the previous agreement, even after every state agreed, and took the fight to the Supreme Court. But under President Donald Trump, the federal government is not expected to oppose the new deal.
Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue said in a statement, “We are extremely pleased to have reached a new settlement that will provide billions of dollars to compensate victims, mitigate the opioid crisis, and provide treatment and overdose prevention medications that will help people Lives will be saved.” ,
Kara Trainor, a Michigan woman who has been in recovery for 17 years, said she became addicted to opioids after getting a prescription for OxyContin to deal with a back injury 23 years ago. He appreciated this deal.
He said, “Everything in my life has been shaped by a company that puts profits over human life.”
Joining James in securing the agreement in principle are the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.
future lawsuits
Under the new proposal, members of the Sackler family would contribute up to $6.5 billion over 15 years and give up ownership of Purdue, which would become a new entity whose board would be appointed by the states and others that sued the company. Was. Purdue must pay $900 million. A portion of the money is also to be given to victims or survivors of the opioid crisis.
The family’s contribution would exceed the $6 billion agreed under the previous version. The Supreme Court blocked that settlement because it protected wealthy family members from civil lawsuits over OxyContin, even though the family members themselves were not bankrupt. The new agreement protects family members from lawsuits only by entities that agree to the settlement.
Since the court’s decision was announced, mediation has been taking place to find a new deal. If no one is reached, it could open the door to lawsuits against members of the Sackler family.
A court order halting lawsuits against members of the Sackler family is set to expire Friday, but the parties are asking a U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge to extend it until February to iron out final details. The deadline has already been extended several times.
Some governments, including Maryland and Washington states, have routinely opposed expansion.
The new settlement could close a chapter in a long legal saga over the toll of the opioid crisis, which some experts claim began after the blockbuster painkiller OxyContin hit the market in 1996. Since then, opioids have been linked to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths in the US. The deadliest since 2020 when the illegal synthetic opioid fentanyl was found to be a factor in more than 70,000 deaths annually.
Members of the Sackler family have been portrayed as villains and their names removed from the art galleries and universities they funded around the world because of their role in the privately held company. He continues to deny claims of any wrongdoing.
Collectively, the family members are estimated to be worth billions more than their contributions to the settlement, but much of the wealth is in offshore accounts and may be impossible to access through lawsuits.
Purdue sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 as it faced thousands of lawsuits over the opioid crisis. Claims also include that the company targeted doctors by giving the message that OxyContin had a low risk of addiction.
