A tentative settlement announced Thursday between nine attorneys general and the Sackler family – the owners of Purdue Pharma, which developed and manufactured the addictive opioid painkiller OxyContin – could mean nearly $50 million for Delaware opioid treatment and prevention programs.
The settlement, if approved by a bankruptcy court judge, would require the Sacklers to pay as much as $6 billion for their role in the opioid epidemic. The epidemic has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans over the last two decades, and thousands in Delaware alone.
The agreement adds at least $1 billion to a prior bankruptcy settlement worth about $4.5 billion, Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings said Thursday. A federal judge vacated that deal in December, questioning whether the lifetime legal shield granted to the Sacklers as part of the plan was legal.
The judge’s decision came after eight states – California, Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont and Washington – and D.C. appealed the agreement. Jennings on Thursday said the previous plan was “inadequate.”
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“The opioid epidemic has caused immeasurable damage to our state, much of which we can never repay,” Jennings said. She added that in recent years, more than 400 people annually have died from overdoses in Delaware – the second-worst per capita rate in the nation.
“The bottom line is that Delaware’s families deserve the best deal possible.”
Jennings said Thursday’s settlement does just that, “not only through the additional millions of dollars secured for our state, but also through the acceptance of responsibility by the Sacklers, their permanent exile from the industry and the dismantling of a legacy bought with ill-gotten gains.”
Still, it could be some time before Delaware and other states receive any of the nearly $6 billion.
The agreement must be approved by Federal Judge Robert Drain, who presided over the previous bankruptcy hearings. It’s also conditioned on several other factors.
If it does overcome these hurdles, Delaware could see up to $12 million in the first 18 months followed by yearly payments through 2039. The money received by the state must be put toward mitigating the effects of the opioid crisis and would be deposited into Delaware’s Prescription Opioid Settlement Fund.
What does this mean for the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma?
In addition to the monetary agreements in Thursday’s settlement, the plan requires Purdue Pharma to be dissolved or sold by 2024 and bans the Sacklers from the opioid business.
While the initial bankruptcy plan required Purdue and the Sacklers to make public over 30 million documents, the new agreement requires the family and company to turn over additional records previously withheld as privileged legal advice.
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It also requires the Sacklers to apologize to victims through a “statement of regret” for their role in the epidemic and remove the family name from buildings, scholarships and fellowships.
In recent years, prominent international cultural institutions – including museums and theaters – have taken this step themselves.
In July 2019, the Louvre in Paris took down the Sackler name and several major London theaters later rejected funds from Sackler Trust. Then in December, just before Judge Drain rejected the previous bankruptcy settlement, the Metropolitan Museum of Art announced it was removing the family name from seven exhibition spaces.
The Met’s announcement made waves, given it was one of the most prominently connected cultural institutions to the Sacklers.
Though Thursday’s settlement brings an end to all current and future civil claims against the Sacklers, it doesn’t release the family from any potential future criminal liability.
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