FILE - The Purdue Pharma offices are seen, May 8, 2007, in Stamford, Conn. (AP Photo/Douglas Healey, File)
CHARLESTON — Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family that controls the major prescription opioids manufacturer have agreed to a $7.4 billion settlement with West Virginia and 13 other states due to fueling the substance use disorder crisis.
Attorney General J.B. McCuskey announced Thursday that the 14-state coalition secured a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family. Of that, the Sackler family will pay upwards of $6.5 billion over 15 years, with Purdue Pharma paying approximately $900 million subject to approval by the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York.
“While West Virginian’s lives were being destroyed by opioid addiction, the Sackler’s were cashing in every time someone got hooked – getting rich with no regard to the toll their drugs were taking on people, families and our communities,” McCuskey said in a statement Thursday afternoon. “The destruction they caused not only to our state, but our nation, is an evil that is hard to put into words.”
The proposed settlement comes more than six months after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the nationwide settlement between 23 states and more than 2,000 local governments with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, manufacturers of the prescription opioid OxyContin. That settlement was for more than $10 billion, with as much as $6 billion coming from the Sackler family itself.
The new settlement agreement would involve large payments in the first three years, with the Sackler family paying $1.5 billion and Purdue Pharma paying $900 million in the first payment, with the family paying $500 million after the first year, another $500 million at the end of year two, and $400 million after year three. West Virginia’s share of the proposed settlement could be as much as $55 million.
The funds would be distributed according to the memorandum of understanding that created the West Virginia First Foundation, the non-profit created by the Attorney General’s Office, the Legislature, and county and city governments. The West Virginia First program divides settlement dollars from opioid manufacturers and distributors, with 24.5% going to cities and counties, 3% going to the Attorney General’s Office and 72.5% going to the West Virginia First Foundation.
The $7.4 billion settlement, if approved, would be the largest opioid settlement to date. The settlement would also mean the Sackler family giving up control of Purdue Pharma and prohibits them from selling prescription opioids in the U.S.
“While litigation and settlements will not bring back the lives lost from the opioid epidemic, our hope is that the money from all the settlements through the years from manufacturers, pharmacies, distributors, and others will start the rebuilding process from one of the darkest chapters in our history,” McCuskey said.
The settlement news came a few hours after the West Virginia Department of Human Services announced another decrease in drug overdose deaths since deaths peaked in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic. According to DoHS, the state saw a 38% decrease in drug overdose deaths for the months of January through July 2024 compared to the same six-month period in 2023.
Drug overdose deaths for a 12-month period ending in August 2024 saw a 27.9% decrease compared to the previous 12-month period, exceeding the national average decrease in drug overdose of 21.7% during the same time period. While the drug of choice now is fentanyl, West Virginia’s substance use disorder crisis is largely borne from the over-prescribing and illegal prescribing of legal opioids.
“We are seeing real progress in reducing overdose deaths, a direct result of our ongoing, data-driven efforts,” said Dr. Stephen Loyd, director of the DoHS Office of Drug Control Policy.
“This data is about real people,” said Christina Mullins, deputy secretary of Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders at DoHS. “This reduction in overdose deaths is a testament to our collective efforts and the ongoing commitment to providing hope and healing to those affected by substance use disorder.”
West Virginia, under previous attorney general and new Gov. Patrick Morrisey, has secured more than $1 billion in settlements with prescription opioid manufacturers and distributers.
Steven Allen Adams can be reached at sadams@newsandsentinel.com