Bankruptcy judge OK’s $7.4 billion OxyContin settlement
A bankruptcy judge on Friday approved a $7.4 billion settlement to end thousands of legal claims filed against OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. File Photo by Justin Lane/EPA
OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma can settle claims against it by paying up to $7.4 billion to end cases filed amid the nation’s opioid epidemic, a federal bankruptcy judge ruled Friday.
The proposed settlement is $1 billion more than one recently rejected last year by the Supreme Court and includes payments to individuals to end some 2,600 claims against Purdue Pharma and its principal owners, the Sackler family, the BBC reported.
“Today cements the end of a long chapter and brings us very near to the end of the book for Purdue,” Purdue Pharma Chairman Steve Miller said Friday in a prepared statement.
The court-approved settlement would “unlock billions in recoveries and significant non-monetary benefits,” he added.
The settlement requires the Sackler family to end its ownership of the pharmaceutical firm and turn it over to the non-profit Knoa Pharma, Miller said.
Local, state and tribal governments and other plaintiffs filed thousands of lawsuits against Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family after more than 900,000 deaths in the United States were linked to the opioid crisis since 1999, according to The Guardian.
The number of deaths includes those who died from fentanyl and heroin overdoses, which many former recipients of OxyContin prescriptions used after losing access to the drug.
Lawsuits totaling $50 billion were filed against Purdue Pharma and other makers and distributors of opioids, which often were presented a non-addictive and relatively harmless.
Purdue Pharma sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 as lawsuits were filed by those who became addicted to opioids and who had family members die from overdoses during the opioid epidemic.
The lawsuits accuse Purdue Pharma and its owners and operators of aggressive marketing OxyContin and making false claims about its potential for abuse, addiction and causing death.
Plaintiffs have not indicated whether they will challenge the bankruptcy court’s settlement ruling.