Mediator: Purdue Pharma close to reaching a new settlement

With a settlement possibly near, a judge is giving the family that owns OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma 16 more days of protection from lawsuits over the toll of opioids

The attorneys general for eight holdout states and the District of Columbia are close to reaching a new settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma that would require members of the family who own the company to increase their contribution to the deal, according to a court filing.

A judge Tuesday gave them 16 more days of protection from lawsuits over the toll of the drugs while the details are worked out.

Legal protections for members of the Sackler family had been set to expire Tuesday, opening the floodgates for new or resumed claims that individuals in the billionaire family bore personal responsibility for an opioid crisis that has been linked to the deaths of more than 500,000 Americans over the past two decades.

At a hearing held by video conference from his White Plains, New York, courtroom, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain agreed to the extend legal protections for family members for the 12th time since 2019.