Purdue Pharma's deal means money for some victims, end of Purdue company
name. Here's what to know
[November 15, 2025]
By GEOFF MULVIHILL
A judge said Friday that he planned to approve a deal for OxyContin
maker Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler family who own the
company to settle thousands of lawsuits over the toll of opioids,
allowing money to start flowing to victims as soon as next spring.
U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Sean Lane said he would spell out his
reasoning in a hearing next week.
Here's what to know.
The Sackler family members will pay billions and can't put their
names on any more museums
Members of the Sackler family have been cast as villains in an overdose
epidemic that has been linked to 900,000 deaths in the U.S. since 1999,
including from heroin and illicit fentanyl.
While most opioids were sold by other companies, many people have
described the marketing of OxyContin, which was sold starting in 1996,
as part of what touched off the crisis.
With legal troubles mounting, family members left the company's board of
directors in 2018 and have not received any payouts from it since then.
But in the decade prior to that, they received more than $10 billion
from the company that has been in the family for decades. About half
that money went to pay taxes.
Under the deal, they'll contribute up to $7 billion and cease to own the
company.
They'll also be barred from being in the opioid business in other
countries and agree not to have their names put on any institutions as
part of charitable contributions. Many museums and universities have
already cut ties with the family.
Purdue will cease to exist in its current form
The plan also calls for changing Stamford, Connecticut-based Purdue's
name to Knoa Pharma and making it an entity dedicated to the public good
with a board appointed by state officials.
It could still produce OxyContin, but the vision is that the company's
profits will address the nation's opioid crisis.
It also would be subject to independent monitoring, as Purdue has been
for the past several years.
The company agreed to make public millions of internal documents —
including many that would normally be subject to attorney-client
privilege.
It also still faces the formality of sentencing as part of a guilty plea
it negotiated with the U.S. Department of Justice in 2020 after
admitting it paid doctors through a speakers program to induce them to
write more prescriptions and that it had an ineffective program to keep
the drugs from being diverted to the black market.
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Jen Trejo holds a photo of her son Christopher as she is comforted
outside the Supreme Court Dec. 4, 2023, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough, File)
 Some victims and their survivors
are in line for payouts
There's been a series of other opioid settlements over the past
decade worth about $50 billion in total. Most of that money, like
most of the Purdue settlement, is required to be used to deal with
the overdose and addiction epidemic.
But none of the other major ones have one feature that's in
Purdue's: payouts for individual victims and their survivors.
Purdue's deal calls for about $850 million to go to victims, with
more than $100 million of that dedicated to the care of children who
were born suffering from withdrawal.
This part of the settlement is expected to be paid next year, while
amounts going to government entities can be paid over 15 years.
But the individual payouts are a frustration for victims. Those who
qualify by showing they were prescribed OxyContin are expected to be
able to collect around $8,000 or $16,000 each, depending on how long
they took the powerful painkillers.
Sackler family members could face more lawsuits
A judge approved a previous Purdue settlement plan in 2021, but it
was undone by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that found Sackler family
members would have improperly received protections from lawsuits
though they themselves hadn't filed for bankruptcy protection.
This time, an appeal is less likely, in part because by the time
this week's hearing on the plan was complete, no one represented by
a lawyer was objecting to it. A handful of individual victims who do
not have lawyers involved were the only ones who kept pushing back.
In response to last year's Supreme Court ruling, the new settlement
allows lawsuits against Sackler family members over opioids to be
filed by entities that don't opt into the deal.
The city of Baltimore, for one, has indicated it may sue.
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