Purdue Pharma, owners to pay $7.4B settlement in OxyContin lawsuits

The prescription medicine OxyContin is displayed August 21, 2001 at a Walgreens drugstore in Brookline, MA.
Settlement reached FILE PHOTO: A settlement has been reached with the makers of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma and the family that owns the company. (Photo by Darren McCollester/Getty Images) (Darren McCollester/Getty Images)

Purdue Pharma and the family that owns the company have agreed to pay up to $7.4 billion to settle lawsuits filed over the toll OxyContin has taken.

The amount agreed upon is more than what was agreed to previously but rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court, The Associated Press reported.

The Sackler family, which owns the company, will pay up to $6.5 billion over 15 years while Purdue Pharma will pay $900 million in a one-time payment for a total of $7.4 billion, The Wall Street Journal reported. It is one of the largest settlements reached for lawsuits that were filed by local, state, Native American tribal governments and other groups in an attempt to hold companies responsible for the opioid abuse epidemic, according to the AP.

The family will also not be shielded from potential lawsuits, one of the sticking points the high court used to deny the previous agreement. The prior deal would have blocked the Sackler family from being sued in civil court for liability, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Purdue will become its own company and will be run by a board appointed by the states and others who filed the lawsuits, the AP reported.

Not all the details have been finalized and the settlement still needs a court’s approval.

Some of the money will be used to compensate victims, provide treatments, provide overdose reversal medications and combat the crisis, the company said in a statement.

More than a dozen states have filed lawsuits and are part of the settlement including California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia.

Purdue Pharma rolled out OxyContin in the 1990s which, according to New York Attorney General Letitia James, “aggressively marketed opioid products for decades, fueling waves of addiction and overdose deaths across the country,” The Wall Street Journal reported.

Kara Trainor said she became addicted to the painkiller 23 years ago when she was prescribed it for a back injury. He has been in recovery for 17 years.

“Everything in my life is shaped by a company that put profits over human lives,” she told the AP.


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