Purdue Pharma’s years-long saga in the courts may finally be coming to a close. On Friday, federal bankruptcy judge Sean Lane approved the pharmaceutical company’s new deal to settle thousands of lawsuits related to its promotion of the highly addictive painkiller OxyContin.
Purdue, founded and owned by the Sacklers, created and sold OxyContin beginning in the 1990s. Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 amid over 2,500 lawsuits by states, local governments, hospitals, and individuals accusing it and the family of knowingly misleading consumers about the drug’s addictive properties, thereby directly contributing to the opioid crisis. More than 564,000 people died due to opioids in the United States between 1999 and 2020, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
While the details of the deal will not be released until Tuesday, it is expected that members of the Sackler family will be required to contribute up to $7 billion and to give up ownership of Purdue. The Guardian reported that it is expected that there will be scope in the new deal for people to directly sue members of the Sackler family for their role in the opioid crisis.
The deal replaces one approved in 2021 and rejected by the US Supreme Court last year that would have dissolved Purdue and distributed $4.5 billion in company funds for efforts to fight the opioid epidemic and resolve related claims. However, the deal controversially included a clause that would prevent the Sacklers from being sued for future claims. The Supreme Court rejected that provision in a 5-4 decision writted by Justice Neil Gorsuch, who argued that federal bankruptcy code does not allow for third-party liability shields in bankruptcy agreements.
Members of the Sackler family have been among the art world’s most high-profile donors for decades. However, following public outcry over the opioid epidemic, as well as the efforts of artist Nan Goldin’s activist group P.A.I.N., many institutions, including London’s National Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim Museum, and others, removed the Sackler name from their buildings.
