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Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family that controlled it have agreed to pay several US states $7.4bn to settle liability claims in the bankruptcy of the opioid maker.
The preliminary agreement with more than a dozen states comes after months of mediation between the family and Purdue’s creditors. The drugmaker initially filed for bankruptcy in 2019 in a New York federal court to manage hundreds of lawsuits over its role in the opioid crisis.
A previous $6bn deal agreed between the family and creditors was struck down by the US Supreme Court last summer. The agreement relied on shielding family members from future lawsuits, which the court said was not allowed without the family members filing for bankruptcy themselves.
The funds will be used over the next 15 years to pay for opioid addiction treatment and recovery programmes, according to a statement from the Texas attorney-general’s office.
This is a developing story.