Purdue and Sackler family agree $7.4bn OxyContin settlement

Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family who controlled it have agreed to pay up to $7.4bn (£6bn) to settle claims regarding its powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin.

The deal represents an increase of more than $1bn on a previous settlement that was rejected in 2024 by the US Supreme Court, according to news agencies AP and Reuters.

Under the terms of the settlement, the Sacklers agreed to pay up to $6.5bn and Purdue to pay $900m.

Oxycontin, often an entryway into harder drugs like heroin, has been blamed for supercharging the deadly opioid crisis in America, and generated billions of dollars for the Sackler family.

The New York Attorney General’s office said the agreement would fund support for opioid addiction treatment and prevention across the US.

“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.

The deal still needs court approval, and some of the details are yet to be ironed out, but AP said it is among the largest settlements reached in a series of lawsuits by local, state, Native American tribal governments and others seeking to hold companies responsible for the deadly epidemic.

Under President Donald Trump, the federal government is not expected to oppose the new deal, according to AP.

Connecticut attorney General William Tong told Reuters 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.”

Under the previous rejected plan from last year, the Sacklers would have been granted immunity from lawsuits in exchange for a payment of $6bn.

The current court order blocking lawsuits against Sackler family members is set to expire on Friday, AP said, but a US bankruptcy court judge has been asked to keep it in place throughout February pending final details.

One woman, who has been in recovery for 17 years after becoming addicted to the painkiller following a back injury, praised the deal.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Kara Trainor said: “Everything in my life is shaped by a company that put profits over human lives”.

Purdue became a household name in the US as the maker and promoter of OxyContin – a prescription painkiller it promoted as safe, despite being aware it was both highly addictive and widely abused.

Since 1999, a few years after the drug became available, deaths from opioid overdoses surged to tens of thousands annually.

Court filings allege the Sackler family was long aware of the legal risks, and withdrew some $11bn from the company in the decade before its bankruptcy. They stashed much of the money overseas, while using some of it to pay company taxes, making recovery difficult.