Sackler Family to Forfeit Billions, Relinquish Purdue Pharma in Landmark Opioid Settlement

On November 15, 2025, a federal bankruptcy court judge announced that he would approve OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma's latest deal to settle thousands of lawsuits over the devastating toll of the opioid crisis. The agreement, overseen by U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane, would require some members of the multibillionaire Sackler family who own the company to contribute up to $7 billion and relinquish their ownership of the Connecticut-based firm.

This new deal replaces a previous settlement that the U.S. Supreme Court had rejected last year, finding that it would have improperly protected the Sackler family from future lawsuits. The judge stated that he would explain his decision to approve the latest plan in a hearing scheduled for November 17, 2025.

The Purdue Pharma bankruptcy settlement is among the largest in a series of opioid-related agreements reached between state/local governments and various drugmakers, wholesalers, and pharmacies, totaling around $50 billion. Lawyers and judges have described it as one of the most complex bankruptcies in U.S. history, as Purdue faced trillions of dollars in claims when it filed for protection six years ago.

The Sackler family, who grew Purdue into a specialist in pain treatment in the early 1990s, became famous philanthropists off the massive profits generated by their star drug OxyContin. However, their reputation plummeted as investigative journalism and activism exposed the company's aggressive efforts to increase OxyContin prescriptions despite growing addiction and overdose deaths across the country.