Purdue Pharma's owners Sackler family is considering adding $1 billion toward the opioid settlement to settle the payouts for the people who accused the OxyContin-maker of fueling the drug crisis.
The addition would sum up the total amount to $5.325 billion. Earlier this week, Purdue was very close to settling claims of fueling the opioid epidemic. The company has not responded or commented anything about the issue.
The mediator in the case even asked the judge to extend the deadline for the negotiations from February 7 to February 16 as it will give more time for the two sides to finalize a fair deal which would eventually add some more money to the settlement.
In 2019, the Sackler family, who owns Purdue and manufactures opioid pain drug OxyContin filed for bankruptcy considering the thousands of lawsuits the company face alleging that it fueled the opioid epidemic throughout the nation. The lawsuits even allege that the OxyContin makers used deceptive marketing strategies by downplaying the opioid overdose risks, which risked the lives of people.
Earlier, the Sackler family was even accused of exploiting the bankruptcy process that would give additional protection to the company against the growing opioid lawsuits.
Apart from Purdue, drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson (J&J), along with three major drug distributors, Cardinal Health Inc, AmerisourceBergen Corp and McKesson Corp, are also facing opioid lawsuits. These companies are penalised with a $26 billion national settlement for fueling the opioid crisis.
