By Dietrich Knauth
NEW YORK (Reuters) -Purdue Pharma and its Sackler family owners have reached a new $7.4 billion settlement to resolve thousands of lawsuits alleging that the pain medication OxyContin caused a widespread opioid addiction crisis in the U.S., several state attorneys general said Thursday.
The settlement was announced nearly seven months after the U.S. Supreme Court upended the company's previous attempt to resolve the lawsuits in a bankruptcy settlement that would have granted the Sacklers sweeping civil immunity from opioid lawsuits in exchange for a payment of up to $6 billion.
The Supreme Court ruled that the Sacklers, who did not file for bankruptcy themselves, were not entitled to legal protections meant to give bankrupt debtors a "fresh start."
Under the new settlement, the Sacklers will pay $6.5 billion, with another $900 million coming from Purdue, without fully shutting off lawsuits from states, local governments, or individual victims of the opioid crisis. Those who do not wish to join the settlement are free to pursue lawsuits against the Sacklers, who have said they would vigorously defend themselves in court.
The deal was negotiated by 15 states, including New York, California, Connecticut, Oregon, Texas, Florida and West Virginia. The other states will be asked to sign on the settlement, which must be approved by a U.S. bankruptcy judge before it becomes final.
Connecticut attorney General William Tong said that the settlement would help provide closure to victims of the opioid crisis.
"It's not just about the money," Tong said. "There is not enough money in the world to make it right."
The latest settlement is meant to address a drug addiction crisis that has led to over 700,000 opioid overdose deaths in the United States over the past two decades.
In addition to the payments made to state and local governments, the settlement will set aside between $800 million and $850 million to pay individual victims of the opioid crisis, according to Ed Neiger, an attorney representing a group of opioid victims in the Purdue bankruptcy.
Purdue said Thursday that it was working to incorporate the settlement into a new bankruptcy plan.
"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 said in a statement.
Purdue is one of many drug manufacturers, distributors, pharmacy operators and others who have collectively in recent years agreed to pay about $50 billion to resolve lawsuits and investigations by states and local governments accusing them of helping fuel a deadly opioid addiction epidemic in the U.S.
Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 in the face of thousands of lawsuits accusing it and members of the Sackler family of fueling the epidemic through deceptive marketing of its highly addictive pain medicine.
The company pleaded guilty to misbranding and fraud charges related to its marketing of OxyContin in 2007 and 2020. Members of the Sackler family have denied wrongdoing but expressed "regret" over OxyContin's role in the opioid crisis.