BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced on Tuesday, June 17, that 55 attorneys general, representing all eligible states and U.S. territories, agreed to a $7. 4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family.
Massachusetts will receive up to $105 million in the settlement, which the Sackler family told the attorneys general it planned to proceed with.
The settlement depends on a court approving Purdue’s bankruptcy plan. AG Campbell says a court will hold a confirmation hearing on that plan later this year.
According to a statement by the AG Campbell’s office, Purdue produced and use aggressive tactics to market opioid products for decades, which played a significant role in fueling the opioid crisis, the larges drug crisis in U.S. history. If the court approved the company’s bankruptcy plan, the settlement resolves legal claims by state and local governments against Purdue and the Sackler family for their role in creating and worsening the opioid crises nationwide.
As part of the settlement, the Sackler family will no longer control Purdue Pharma or sell opioids in the United States.
Under the settlement, which was agreed to in principle in January, the Sackler family will pay $1.5 billion and Purdue Pharma will pay around $900 million in the first payment, expected in early 2026, pending approval. Communities across the U.S. will receive funds directly over the next 15 years to support addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery.
This settlement brings the total Massachusetts has obtained with companies that helped fuel the opioid crisis to over $1 billion.
