Purdue Pharma, Sacklers reach new $7.4 billion opioid settlement with all 50 states

Protesters gather outside a courthouse on Friday, Aug. 2, 2019, in Boston, where a judge was to hear arguments in Massachusetts' lawsuit against Purdue Pharma over its role in the national drug epidemic. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa, File)

All 50 states as well as the District of Columbia and U.S. territories have approved a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma, maker of Oxycontin, over the company’s improper marketing of opioids.

The deal was filed with a federal bankruptcy court by Purdue Pharma officials in March after negotiations with state attorneys general and other stakeholders. If this plan is finalized, payouts will occur over the next 15 years.

In a statement, New York’s Attorney General Letitia James said the plan will “hold the Sackler family accountable” for what she described as their “leading role in fueling the epidemic of opioid addiction and overdoses.”