The members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma LP have agreed to contribute as much as $6 billion to settle litigation accusing them of fueling opioid addiction, a new attempt to resolve civil liability and get the drugmaker out of bankruptcy after a previous chapter 11 deal was overturned, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. The revised offer marks an increase from the $4.5 billion settlement the Sacklers had previously agreed to under a bankruptcy plan for Purdue, the OxyContin manufacturer closely associated with the opioid epidemic. A federal judge rejected that settlement proposal in December, ruling in favor of the handful of state attorneys general who didn’t accept the Sacklers’ offer. The revised proposal, revealed in court papers filed Friday, has the support of most but not all of the attorneys general who held out from the previous deal. Purdue filed for chapter 11 protection in 2019, overrun with lawsuits alleging its flagship OxyContin drug had fueled addiction. The company pleaded guilty in 2020 to three federal felonies surrounding the marketing and sale of OxyContin. If a bankruptcy plan incorporating the new settlement is confirmed, the Sacklers “would be paying, in total, not less than $5.5 billion and up to $6 billion,” according to a mediator’s report filed in Purdue’s chapter 11 case.
