Purdue Pharma asked a bankruptcy judge Tuesday to consider the latest version of its plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of the powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin, a deal that would have members of the Sackler family who own the company pay up to $7 billion. The filing is a milestone in a tumultuous legal saga that has gone on for more than five years, the Associated Press reports. The family members — estimated to be worth about $11 billion — would give up ownership of the company in addition to contributing money over 15 years, with the biggest payment up front. Family members resigned from Purdue’s board, stopped receiving money from the company and ceased other involvement before it filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 as it faced lawsuits from thousands of state and local governments.
Advertisement
The new entity would be run by a board appointed by state governments. Its mission will be to abate the opioid crisis that has been linked to hundreds of thousands of deaths in the U.S. since OxyContin hit the market in 1996. The first wave of deadly overdoses were tied to OxyContin and other prescription drugs, and subsequent waves have involved heroin and more recently illicit versions of fentanyl. This settlement plan was hammered out in months of mediation involving groups that sued Purdue, and nearly all of them are supporting it. Approval would take at least several months. A previous version had bankruptcy court approval but was rejected last year by the Supreme Court because it protected members of the Sackler family from civil lawsuits even though none of them filed for bankruptcy protection themselves. Drugmakers, distribution companies, pharmacy chains and others have already reached opioid lawsuit settlements worth about $50 billion. Purdue’s, which would also include about $900 million from company coffers, would be among the largest if finalized.