By Jonathan Stempel
(Reuters) – The Sackler family owners of Purdue Pharma LP reached a deal with nine attorneys general to pay up to $6 billion in cash to resolve widespread litigation alleging that they fueled the opioid epidemic, bringing the OxyContin maker closer to exiting bankruptcy.
The deal was revealed on Thursday in a court filing by a mediator who oversaw renewed talks between the Sacklers and the states that had blocked a previous settlement that included a $4.3 billion cash payment.
The deal must still be approved by a judge.
The settlement included non-economic terms including the agreement by the Sacklers to allow institutions such as museums to remove their name from facilities.
The Sackler family owners said in a statement they “sincerely regret” that OxyContin “unexpectedly became part of an opioid crisis.”
The family members said they acted lawfully but a settlement was by far the best way to help resolve a “serious and complex public health crisis.”
Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 in the face of thousands of lawsuits accusing it and members of the Sackler family of fueling the opioid epidemic through deceptive marketing of its highly addictive pain medicine.
The company pleaded guilty to misbranding and fraud charges related to its marketing of OxyContin in 2007 and 2020. Members of the Sackler family have denied wrongdoing.
(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Noeleen Walder and Bill Berkrot)