Members of the Sackler family will dedicate at least $5.5 billion plus 100% of the debtors’ assets to opioid abatement and victims.
The owners of Purdue Pharma have agreed to pay up to $6 billion in cash to U.S. states to settle the multitude of lawsuits filed against the company for OxyContin’s alleged role in fueling the country’s opioid crisis.
In a document written by the U.S. Bankruptcy Court of the Southern District of New York, members of the Sackler family will dedicate “at least $5.5 billion plus 100% of the debtors’ assets to opioid abatement and victims.”
Of the $1 billion in cash that the Sackler family members or trusts will pay, $723,111,111.13 will go toward the Master Disbursement Trust, while $276,888,888.87 will be paid to the SOAF (the Nine). SOAF funds will be devoted exclusively to opioid-related abatement, including support and services for survivors, victims and families.
Over $112 million will go to the State of California, over $785 million will collectively go to Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and the District of Columbia, over $93 million will go to Washington, and $14 million will be paid to New Hampshire. Payments to the MDT and SOAF will be given in increments starting from the agreed effective date until June 30, 2039.
Each member of the nine states, called the Nine, will have the right to directly allocate the SOAF funds for such purposes. The Sackler family will also pay $175 million in cash to MDT in lieu of any obligations under the Plan relating to certain family foundations, and 90% of the amount of IAC sales beyond $4.3 billion, or as much as $500 million, will be paid to MDT. The Sackler name will be removed from physical facilities and academic, medical, cultural, endowment and scholarship programs, among others.
The official statement, written on behalf of the descendants of the late Dr. Mortimer Sackler and the late Dr. Raymond Sackler, says: “The Sackler families are pleased to have reached a settlement with additional states that will allow very substantial additional resources to reach people and communities in need. The families have consistently affirmed that settlement is by far the best way to help solve a serious and complex public health crisis. While the families have acted lawfully in all respects, they sincerely regret that OxyContin, a prescription medicine that continues to help people suffering from chronic pain, unexpectedly became part of an opioid crisis that has brought grief and loss to far too many families and communities.”
Purdue Pharma had been accused in various states of employing deceptive marketing tactics for its OxyContin drug, which later is understood to have contributed significantly to the opioid epidemic.
In December, a Manhattan federal judge rejected the firm’s $4.5 billion bankruptcy settlement proposal because of a provision that protects the Sackler family from facing litigation individually. In February, the company made the news again after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of its nalmefene hydrochloride injection as an injectable treatment to partially or totally reverse opioid effects.
