Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family that controls it have agreed to pay up to $7.4bn (£6bn) to settle claims over its powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin.
The deal represents an increase of more than $1 billion over the previous settlement which was rejected by the US Supreme Court in 2024AP and Reuters news agencies report.
Under the terms of the settlement, the Sacklers agreed to pay up to $6.5 billion and Purdue $900 million.
Oxycontin, often a precursor to harder drugs like heroin, has been blamed for exacerbating America’s deadly opioid crisis, bringing the Sackler family billions of dollars.
“We are extremely pleased that a new agreement has been reached that will deliver billions of dollars to compensate victims, alleviate the opioid crisis and deliver life-saving drugs to treat and rescue overdoses,” Purdue said in a statement.
The deal still needs court approval and some details have yet to be ironed out, but the AP says it’s one of the largest settlements reached in a series of lawsuits by local, state, Indian tribal governments and others seeking company responsibility for the deadly outbreak.
Under President Donald Trump, the federal government is not expected to oppose the new deal, according to the AP.
Connecticut Attorney General William Tong told Reuters the settlement would help address victims of the opioid crisis.
“It’s not just about the money,” Tong said. “There’s not enough money in the world to fix it.”
Since 1999, a few years after the drug became available, opioid overdose deaths have risen into the tens of thousands annually.
Court filings say the Sackler family has long been aware of the legal risks and withdrew about $11 billion from the company in the decade before the bankruptcy. They hid a large part of the money abroad, and partly used it to pay taxes to the company, which made recovery difficult.
