A federal judge has moved to approve a monumental settlement worth up to $7 billion against Purdue Pharma, the maker of the controversial painkiller OxyContin, compelling the billionaire Sackler family to pay victims and surrender control of the company.
The Landmark Settlement Details
US Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane stated on Friday that he would approve the complex deal, which resolves thousands of lawsuits linked to the devastating opioid epidemic. The settlement mandates that members of the Sackler family, who own the Connecticut-based firm, contribute up to $7 billion and give up ownership of Purdue Pharma.
This new agreement supersedes a previous version that was rejected by the US Supreme Court last year. The court had found the earlier deal would have improperly granted the Sackler family immunity from future litigation. Judge Lane indicated he would provide a full explanation for his decision during a hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
A Long Legal Odyssey and National Crisis
The settlement represents one of the largest resolutions in a sweeping series of legal actions against players in the pharmaceutical industry, including drugmakers, wholesalers, and pharmacies. These collective settlements have totalled approximately $50 billion.
This deal could potentially conclude the extensive legal battle to hold Purdue Pharma accountable for its role in an opioid crisis connected to an estimated 900,000 deaths in the US since 1999. This figure includes fatalities from heroin and illicit fentanyl, substances many turned to after becoming dependent on OxyContin and having their prescription supply restricted.
Legal experts have described the Purdue Pharma case as one of the most complicated bankruptcies in US history. The company filed for bankruptcy protection six years ago, facing lawsuits with claims that ballooned into the trillions of dollars. Ultimately, attorneys representing a wide range of parties—including Purdue itself, cities, states, counties, Native American tribes, and individuals struggling with addiction—were nearly unanimous in urging the judge to approve the bankruptcy plan tentatively agreed upon this past January.
The Rise and Fall of the Sacklers
The privately held Purdue Pharma was built by now-deceased members of the Sackler family into a specialist in pain treatment during the early 1990s. Their star drug, OxyContin, generated massive profits, which some family members used to become renowned philanthropists.
However, their reputation crumbled following investigative journalism and public activism that exposed the company's aggressive tactics to boost OxyContin prescriptions, despite mounting evidence of widespread addiction and a soaring death toll across the United States.
