The maker of OxyContin, Purdue Pharma, and its owners, the Sackler family, are offering to settle more than 2,000 lawsuits against the company for $10bn to $12bn. According to a NBC News report, the potential deal was part of confidential conversations and discussed by Purdue's lawyers at a meeting in Cleveland last Tuesday, 20 August.
The report says brought by states, cities and counties, the lawsuits – some of which have been combined into one massive case – allege the company and the Sackler family are responsible for staring and sustaining the opioid crisis.
At least 10 state attorneys general and the plaintiffs’ attorneys gathered in Cleveland, where David Sackler represented the Sackler family, according to two people familiar with the meeting. David Sackler, who was a board member of the company, has recently been the de facto family spokesperson.
The report says Purdue Pharma, which makes the opioid painkiller OxyContin, and the Sackler family have denied the allegations laid out in the lawsuits.
[link url="https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/purdue-pharma-offers-10-12-billion-settle-opioid-claims-n1046526"]NBC News report[/link]