Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family, have reached a $7.4bn settlement with US states to resolve a long-running legal saga involving the pain medication Oxycontin and its role in fuelling the opioid epidemic in the country.
The settlement is the nation’s largest to date with individuals responsible for contributing to the opioid crisis. Under the terms of the deal, $7.4bn will be paid out by the Sacklers and Purdue over 15 years to participating states, local governments, thousands of affected individuals, and other parties who previously filed lawsuits.
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The settlement also reflects the end of the Sackler family’s ownership of Purdue, a company they bought in 1952. Purdue placed painkiller OxyContin (oxycodone) on the market in 1996, while publicising misleading information and adopting aggressive marketing tactics for the drug.
As sales of the drug increased so did deaths from overdoses. There have been over a million opioid overdose deaths since 1999 in the US, with figures reaching annual highs in 2022 when nearly 82,000 people died. Deaths decreased for the first time in 2023 due to the wider availability of overdose-reversing drug naloxone and legal settlements have also been suggested to play a role.
Purdue pleaded guilty to misbranding and fraud charges related to its marketing of OxyContin in 2007 and 2020. The company then filed for bankruptcy in 2019 as thousands of lawsuits continued to roll. The revelations led to the Sacklers being described as the “most evil family in America”.
The Sacklers, however, did not file for bankruptcy themselves and have previously denied wrongdoing. In June 2024, the Supreme Court blocked Purdue’s bankruptcy settlement plan that included sweeping immunity measures to protect members of the Sackler family from further liability. A key part of the current settlement is that it does not offer an automatic shield to the Sackler family from liability.
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By GlobalDataWith the Sacklers relinquishing control of Purdue, a new board will be appointed by participating states and other parties in the legal case.
New York attorney general Letitia James said: “The Sackler family relentlessly pursued profit at the expense of vulnerable patients and played a critical role in starting and fuelling the opioid epidemic.”
“The Sacklers no longer have control of Purdue and will never be allowed to sell opioids in the United States again. I will continue to go after the companies that caused the opioid epidemic and fight to get justice for those who have suffered.”
The settlement with Purdue and Sackler is one of many cases that US courts are sifting through as it reaches the roots of the opioid epidemic to pin industry accountability. National opioid settlements have been reached with other pharma companies such as Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Johnson & Johnson, along with pharmacies CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart.
