A $6 billion deal hangs in the balance as OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP and its wealthy owners square off against the U.S. Justice Department over the firm’s opioid lawsuit settlement.
The sides will meet in a New York courtroom Friday to argue over a plan to funnel billions of dollars to opioid crisis abatement efforts and settle trillions of dollars of legal claims against the drugmaker. Purdue Pharma won approval of the deal in bankruptcy court last year, but an appeals judge later threw out the accord in a shock decision. Now, a panel of higher-ranking judges will review the case in the last step before a Supreme Court appeal.
At issue is the deal’s controversial cornerstone: protection for Purdue’s owners, members of the billionaire Sackler family, from opioid lawsuits. The family members have agreed to relinquish their ownership of Purdue and pay as much as $6 billion to those suing over their role in the crisis in exchange for immunity from related civil suits.
