Judge to explain why he’s approving Purdue Pharma settlement plan, which calls for $7B from Sacklers
A U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge is set to give his reasoning Tuesday for approving OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma’s plan to settle thousands of lawsuits over the opioid toll.
The deal calls for members of the Sackler family, who own the company, to pay up to $7 billion over time.
Judge Sean Lane said last week he would accept the plan, which is among the largest opioid settlements ever and would do something other big ones don’t: pay some victims of the crisis.
Members of the Sackler family agreed to pay up to $7 billion over 15 years, providing most of the money involved in the settlement.
Funds distributed to states, local residents, and Native Americans must be used primarily to address the opioid crisis, as has been the case in other opioid settlements.
Of that, about $850 million will be paid to individual victims, including children born with opioid withdrawal.
Dependent individuals and survivors of those who have died must prove they were prescribed OxyContin to participate. Those who do could receive payments of about $8,000 or about $16,000, depending on how long they received the drug and how many other people qualify. The money for individual victims is to be distributed next year.
Sackler family members agree to relinquish ownership of Purdue.
For them, this will not be a major change since no family member has served on Purdue’s board or received money from the company since 2018. The plan calls for replacing Purdue with a new company, Knoa Pharma, controlled by a state-appointed board of directors with a mission to benefit the public.
Members of the Sackler family also agree that their names will not be put on institutions in exchange for contributions – something they have often done in the past, even though many institutions have severed ties with them.
The company also agreed to make public a trove of internal documents that could shed additional light on how it promotes and monitors opioids.
One feature that will not be repeated in this new agreement that appeared in a previous one: requiring members of the Sackler family to hear directly from those harmed by OxyContin.
Purdue filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 as it faced thousands of opioid-related lawsuits from state, local and other governments.
A judge approved a settlement two years later. But the U.S. Supreme Court later rejected the plan because it gave members of the Sackler family protection from opioid lawsuits even if they did not personally file for bankruptcy.
The latest plan allows for lawsuits against members of the Sackler family by those who do not adhere to the agreement.
This time around, few parties opposed the settlement, although some self-represented people who were addicted to opioids — or who had loved ones who were — raised concerns during the three-day confirmation hearing last week.
