(The Center Square) – North Carolina’s state and local governments are receiving as much as $150 million from the $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family.
The state was in the lawsuit brought against the defendants because of the impact OxyContin had on residents. Plaintiffs said the nation’s opioid crisis was fueled by the company headquartered in Stamford, Conn., the maker of the prescription painkiller, because is invented, manufactured and aggressively marketed it for decades, a release from Democratic state Attorney General Jeff Jackson said.
“Purdue and the Sackler family are finally being held to account for the role they’ve played in fueling addiction and deaths across North Carolina and the nation,” Jackson said in a release. “This settlement means we will get more money than the original plan and the Sacklers will be required to exit the opioid business.”
Court approval of the settlement agreement is pending. It includes the Sacklers paying up to $6.5 billion over 15 years, and Purdue paying nearly $900 million. And, the Sacklers must end control of Purdue and their ability to sell opioids in the United States, Jackson’s release says.
The Sackler family is believed to have a net worth between $5.2 billion and more than $13 billion, fluctuating in part because of a $6 billion bankruptcy settlement, according to published reports.
North Carolina has reaped nearly $1.6 billion from opioid settlements through the U.S. Department of Justice. Of that, local governments have received $1.3 billion.
Other states involved in the settlement were New York, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and West Virginia.