Purdue Pharma hearings begin on $7.4 billion opioid settlement plan

Purdue Pharma begins several days of hearings Wednesday to finalize a $7.4 billion bankruptcy restricting plan that no longer fully protects the company’s owners, members of the Sackler families, from opioid litigation. The U.S. Supreme Court last year blocked an earlier version of Purdue’s bankruptcy settlement because it gave the Sacklers immunity from lawsuits over the misleading marketing of OxyContin, the painkiller that Purdue began marketing in 1996. Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019 after thousands of cities, states, territories and individuals sued, alleging that the company and its owners fueled waves of addiction and overdose deaths. Under the new plan, the Sacklers and Purdue boost their settlement contribution to $7.4 billion. The revised agreement settles all civil claims a