Purdue Pharma owners agree to raise OxyContin settlement to $6 billion after 9 states said $4.5 billion wasn't enough

Oxycodone (John Moore, Getty Images)

"Nine state attorneys general have agreed to drop their objection to a deal granting immunity from opioid lawsuits to members of the Sackler family who own Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin," Brian Mann and Martha Bebinger report for NPR. "In exchange, the family has agreed to increase the amount it pays from personal holdings from roughly $4.5 billion under a previous settlement to $6 billion."

A federal judge overturned a prior deal in December after the Justice Department and some states filed an appeal, saying the Sacklers should pay more and shouldn't get immunity from current and future suits. "States demanding more money from the Sacklers — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New Hampshire, Oregon, Vermont and Washington — have among the highest overdose death rates in the country," Mann and Bebinger report.

The extra $1 billion would go toward programs aimed at mitigating the opioid crisis, and the balance would still be divided among state, local and tribal governments, Mann and Bebinger report. The new deal must be approved by U.S. Bankrupty Judge Robert Drain, who has signaled strong support for it.

The Sacklers released a statement that admitted no wrongdoing but said they "sincerely regret" that OxyContin "unexpectedly" became part of the opioid crisis. The epidemic began in the 1990s, but until 2016, Purdue paid doctors kickbacks for public speaking and consulting services, and those who prescribed more OxyContin were most likely to get such fees. Sales reps for Abbott Laboratories, which partnered with Purdue to market OxyContin to doctors, was told to downplay the threat of addiction when promoting the drug. Purdue pleaded guilty in federal court in 2007 and 2020 for such fraudulent marketing practices, and didn't stop marketing OxyContin to doctors until 2018.