A judge is now considering a historic settlement proposal with Purdue Pharma. This is the same company that brought us OxyContin, one of the most powerful prescription painkillers helping to fuel today’s epidemic of opioid addictions and overdoses. Owners of Purdue, the Sackler family, will lose ownership under the terms of the proposed settlement. They agreed to pay otherwise to as much as $7 billion over 15 years. That blueprint is the result of addressing the shocking rise in opioid addiction. Since OxyContin first entered the market in 1996, overdose deaths have drastically increased.
From the start, OxyContin became one of the leading causes in the rising tide of the opioid epidemic. This crisis has ravaged communities in every corner of the United States. The current settlement proposal aims to provide substantial financial resources to state and local governments, which are struggling to combat the addiction and overdose crisis. Of the total amount, no less than $850 million is set aside specifically for the direct victims of the opioid epidemic.
The dollar value makes this settlement one of the largest opioid epidemic-related resolutions to date. It’s the culmination of a decade of litigation trying to get those responsible held accountable. So far, settlements from this crisis have amounted to $50 billion. These are a much-needed, targeted investment to support programs addressing the public health emergency stemming from opioid misuse.
In the early 2000s, prescription drugs, such as OxyContin, caused more than half of all opioid-related deaths. Purdue Pharma’s economic stresses finally broke the company into pieces and forced it into a 2019 bankruptcy in the face of intensifying legal pressure. Prior to this filing, we thought that members of the Sackler family had resigned from Purdue’s board. They ceased taking distributions from the company’s coffers, clearly attempting to separate themselves from its legal obligations.
The judicial review is very much alive. Local governing entities and individual victims are asking the presiding judge to let them vote on the terms of the proposed settlement plan. There is one truly pivotal element in the proposal. Non-settling parties retain the right to sue any Sackler family member.
