A federal bankruptcy court judge on Tuesday formally approved the maker of OxyContin Purdue Pharma plan To settle thousands of lawsuits over opioid harm.
US Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane gave his reasons on Tuesday for approving the plan, which requires Sackler family members who own the company to contribute up to $7 billion over 15 years. Most of the money goes to government agencies to combat the opioid crisis, which has been linked to 900,000 deaths in the United States since 1999.
A portion of the money will be distributed next year to some people who got prescriptions for OxyContin and their survivors.
“My heart goes out to everyone who has gone through this pain,” Lane said.
The new agreement replaces one that the U.S. Supreme Court rejected last year, finding that it would inappropriately protect family members from future lawsuits. Under the current agreement, entities not involved in the payments can still sue family members.
The deal, which the judge said he would accept last week, is among the largest in a series of opioid settlements brought by state and local governments against Drug makers, Wholesalers and Pharmacies Which amounted to about 50 billion dollars.
Members of the Sackler family agreed to pay up to $7 billion over 15 years, providing most of the cash included in the settlement.
The money distributed to states, locals and Native Americans will be used mostly to address the opioid crisis, as was the case with Other opioid settlements.
About $850 million of it will go to individual victims, including children born with opioid withdrawal.
People with addiction 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 is scheduled to be distributed to individual victims next year.
The Sackler family members agree to give up ownership of Bordeaux.
For them, it wouldn’t represent a big change since no family member has sat on Purdue’s board or received money from the company since 2018. The plan calls for Purdue to be replaced by a new company, Knoa Pharma, controlled by a state-appointed board with a mission to benefit the public.
Sackler family members also agree not to put their names on foundations in exchange for contributions — something they have done frequently in the past, although many of them Institutions cut ties With them.
The company also agreed to release a set of internal documents that could shed more light on how the company promotes and controls opioids.
One feature that will not be repeated under this new deal that was present in a previous deal: forcing Sackler family members to hear directly from People affected by OxyContin.
Purdue filed for bankruptcy protection in 2019 when it was facing thousands of opioid-related lawsuits from state and local governments and others.
A judge approved the settlement two years later. but The US Supreme Court later rejected this plan Because it gave the Sacklers family members protection from opioid-related lawsuits even though they had not personally declared bankruptcy.
The latest plan allows for lawsuits to be filed against Sackler family members by those who did not participate in the deal. This change was key to getting the new version approved in the wake of the Supreme Court ruling.
This time, few parties objected to the settlement, although some self-represented people who were addicted to opioids — or had loved ones who were — raised concerns during the three-day confirmation hearing last week.
One of those people representing themselves told Lane during Tuesday’s virtual hearing that she plans to appeal.