The Sackler family, owners of the US laboratory Purdue, accused of contributing to the opiate crisis in the United States, have offered to pay victims up to $ 6 billion to end an avalanche of litigation, according to a document court released on Friday.
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The new offer upgrades their previous proposal, which was $4.5 billion under Purdue’s bankruptcy plan, but was struck down by a judge in December because it would have prevented future civil lawsuits against family members.
Under the terms of the new agreement, the Sackler family “would pay, in full, no less than 5.5 billion dollars and up to 6 billion,” details a document submitted Friday to a New York bankruptcy court.
If this new plan has received the support of a majority of the parties involved, the eight American states and the capital, Washington, which had appealed the first agreement, must also approve it for it to be ratified, warns Judge Shelley Chapman.
The funds should be used “exclusively for the fight against the opiate crisis, in particular the support and assistance to survivors, victims and their families”, specifies the text.
Purdue’s aggressive promotion of the painkiller OxyContin, pushed by the Sackler family who knew it was highly addictive, is seen by many as the trigger for the opioid crisis, responsible for more than 500,000 overdose deaths in 20 years. in the USA.
Purdue, the Sacklers and OxyContin have become symbols of the excesses of a pharmaceutical industry desperate to make a profit.
The Purdue laboratory had declared itself insolvent in September 2019, proposing a bankruptcy plan to settle the avalanche of litigation against it and agreeing to plead guilty.