OxyContin manufacturer reaches $270M settlement with Oklahoma: Report

Purdue Pharma and the family that owns it have reached a $270 million settlement with the state of Oklahoma over claims its products drove the opioid crisis, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The settlement marks a first in more than 1,600 lawsuits the drugmaker is facing over its opioid products, which include OxyContin, brought by various states, cities and counties. The lawsuits accuse the drugmaker and the Sackler family of aggressively pushing opioid products and deliberately obscuring their addictiveness.

{mosads}The Sacklers and Purdue have also been under fire from Congress. Last week, House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) requested a list of all members of the Sackler family who have served on Purdue’s board or as officers in the company, as well as all documents prepared for the family about sales and marketing of OxyContin.

The Sackler Trust has announced it will suspend new charitable contributions in the U.K. as the backlash intensifies. The charitable trust and the U.K.’s National Portrait Gallery previously agreed not to move forward with a planned $1.3 million gift from the family.

Oklahoma is one of 37 states to sue Purdue since 2017 and had the earliest scheduled trial date, May 28. The Oklahoma Supreme Court earlier this week refused the drugmaker’s request to delay the trial. The next opioids trial, expected to take place in fall 2019, is a consolidated federal case that includes lawsuits brought by more than 1,500 counties, hospitals, tribes and others.

The state attorney general’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.