Sackler family to pay $6.5 billion for their role in ‘fueling’ opioid epidemic which has killed hundreds of thousands
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Sackler family, who owned pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, will no longer be in control of the company or permitted to sell opioids if the new settlement plan is approved. Purdue Pharma, the makers and marketers of the highly addictive opioid OxyContin, and the family that owned the company, the Sackler family, have agreed to pay $7.4 billion to individuals, states, local governments and other claimants who suffered as a result of the drug, for their “instrumental role in creating the opioid crisis.”.
![[The Supreme Court overturned the settlement and bankruptcy deal the Sackler family had struck with Purdue Pharma last year]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/06/27/16/Supreme_Court_Opioid_Crisis_Explainer_50302.jpg)
If approved, Purdue Pharma will contribute $900 million upfront while the Sackler family pays $6.5 billion over the next 15 years – a $500 million increase from the previous settlement. “The Sackler family relentlessly pursued profit at the expense of vulnerable patients, and played a critical role in starting and fueling the opioid epidemic,” James said in a press release.
“While no amount of money will ever fully repair the damage they caused, this massive influx of funds will bring resources to communities in need so that we can heal,” she added. If approved, the settlement will end the Sackler’s control of Purdue Pharma and prevent them from selling opioids in the U.S. Funding will directly support opioid addiction treatment, prevention and recovery programs across the country for the next 15 years.
“We are extremely pleased that a new agreement has been reached that will deliver billions of dollars to compensate victims, abate the opioid crisis, and deliver treatment and overdose rescue medicines that will save lives,” Purdue Pharma said in a statement to The Independent. “We have worked intensely with our creditors for months in mediation, and we are now focused on finalizing the details of a new Plan of Reorganization, which we look forward to presenting to the bankruptcy court.”.
