Purdue and Sackler family agree $7.4bn opioid settlement 33 minutes ago Tom McArthur BBC News Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family who controlled it have agreed to pay up to $7.4bn (£6bn) to settle claims regarding its powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Sacklers agreed to pay up to $6.5bn and Purdue to pay $900m.
Oxycontin, often an entryway into harder drugs like heroin, has been blamed for supercharging the deadly opioid crisis in America, and generated billions of dollars for the Sackler family.
Connecticut attorney General William Tong told Reuters that the settlement would help provide closure to victims of the opioid crisis.
Court filings allege the Sackler family was long aware of the legal risks, and withdrew some $11bn from the company in the decade before its bankruptcy.
Purdue and the Sacklers reach a $7.4 billion opioid settlement.
It was thirty-three minutes ago.
McArthur, Tom.
The BBC News.
Claims involving Purdue Pharma’s potent prescription painkiller OxyContin have been settled for up to $7.4 billion (£6 billion) by the Sackler family, which owned the company.
According to news outlets AP and Reuters, the agreement is a more than $1 billion increase over a prior settlement that the US Supreme Court rejected in 2024.
As per the settlement agreement, Purdue agreed to pay $900 million and the Sacklers agreed to pay up to $62.5 billion.
The deadly opioid crisis in America has been attributed to Oxycontin, which is frequently used as a gateway to more potent drugs like heroin. The Sackler family has made billions of dollars from Oxycontin.
According to the office of the New York Attorney General, the agreement will provide funding for opioid addiction prevention and treatment initiatives across the United States.
Purdue released a statement saying, “We are very happy that a new agreement has been reached that will deliver billions of dollars to compensate victims, abate the opioid crisis, and deliver treatment and overdose rescue medicines that will save lives.”.
According to the AP, the agreement is one of the biggest settlements reached in a series of lawsuits filed by local, state, Native American tribal governments, and others who are trying to hold companies accountable for the deadly epidemic. However, it still needs court approval and some details are still being worked out.
The AP reports that under President Donald Trump, the federal government is not anticipated to oppose the new deal.
Attorney General William Tong of Connecticut told Reuters that the settlement would help give those affected by the opioid crisis closure.
“It’s not just about the money,” Tong stated. The world does not have enough money to put things right. “,”.
Last year, the Sacklers would have received immunity from lawsuits in exchange for $6 billion under the previously rejected plan.
According to AP, a US bankruptcy court judge has been asked to extend the current court order that is preventing lawsuits against Sackler family members through February while final details are worked out. The order is scheduled to expire on Friday.
A woman who developed a painkiller addiction after suffering a back injury and has been in recovery for 17 years praised the offer.
Kara Trainor told the Associated Press: “A company that prioritizes profits over human lives shapes everything in my life.”.
As the manufacturer and distributor of OxyContin, a prescription painkiller that it marketed as safe even though it was known to be extremely addictive and frequently abused, Purdue rose to prominence in the US.
Overdose deaths from opioids have increased to tens of thousands per year since 1999, just a few years after the drug’s release.
The Sackler family withdrew about $11 billion from the company in the ten years prior to its bankruptcy, according to court documents, indicating that they were long aware of the legal risks. They made it difficult to recover by hiding a large portion of the funds abroad and using some of them to pay corporate taxes.