Settlement with Purdue Pharma & Sackler Family in Opioid Settlement Becomes Legally Effective – DE’s Share – $27-million

A $7.4-billion settlement reached with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family has become legally effective. Delaware Attorney General Kathy Jennings says that this caps nearly a decade of work by her office – and A-Gs from across the country in pursuing investigation and litigation over Purdue’s and the Sacklers’ role in fueling the opioid crisis. Delaware was among the first states to sue Purdue in 2018 – when Matt Denn was AG. Jennings sued the Sackler family in 2019. The First State will receive over $27-million from the settlement which will be deposited into the State’s Prescription Opioid Settlement Fund.

Additional information from AG Jennings:

After Purdue filed bankruptcy in September 2019 in light of massive litigation against it, the attorneys general have taken a lead role in the bankruptcy proceedings.  Jennings and the Delaware DOJ’s negotiating team were instrumental in securing the multi-billion settlement, including helping achieve a new settlement that obtained more money from the Sacklers after the Supreme Court in June 2024 invalidated provisions in a prior settlement. The settlement gives funds to communities across the country, as well as individual victims and other groups who filed claims in the bankruptcy proceedings. The settlement also permanently bars the Sacklers from selling opioids in the United States. 

“Delaware was hit harder by the opioid crisis than nearly any other state, and the Sacklers cast a very long shadow over that devastation,” said AG Jennings. “These funds allow us to continue driving overdose fatalities down, and I am grateful for the people who are doing that lifesaving work. But we would give back every penny to undo the loss that millions of American families, and thousands across Delaware, have suffered. This is a sad and ugly chapter in our history.” 

Fifty-five attorneys general representing all eligible U.S. states and territories previously signed onto the settlement. It resolves litigation against Purdue and the Sacklers for producing and aggressively marketing opioids in the United States, fueling the largest drug crisis in the country’s history.  

Delaware will receive over $27 million from the settlement, which will be deposited into Delaware’s Prescription Opioid Settlement Fund. While most states will receive payments over 15 years, Delaware will receive its share as a lump sum payment shortly after the settlement is finalized.  AG Jennings’ efforts in extended negotiations previously helped increase the Sacklers’ payment to the states by $1 billion; her role in subsequent negotiations resulted in Delaware receiving the full economic benefit of its 2022 settlement in one upfront payment, rather than in deferred payments over the course of 15 years. 

This settlement agreement replaced a prior multistate agreement that the United States Supreme Court overturned in June 2024. That prior settlement, which included up to a $6 billion contribution from the Sacklers, was also achieved due in substantial part to the advocacy of AG Jennings and a handful of other states that had objected to the $4.5 billion Sackler contribution initially approved by the Bankruptcy Court. The final settlement included a greater financial contribution from the Sacklers, preserved the economic benefit of Delaware’s prior deal, and further broadened the availability of additional monetary relief to all participating states. In total, Delaware has secured roughly a quarter-billion dollars in opioid settlement funds.  

The settlement also means that Purdue’s manufacturing operations transfer effective today to Knoa Pharma LLC, which will be overseen by a board of directors who had no connection to Purdue. The settlement prevents Knoa from marketing opioids and provides for an independent monitor to ensure it provides these medicines in the safest possible manner that limits the risk of diversion.  

The settlement also provides Purdue and the Sacklers will make public more than 30 million documents related to their opioid business. 

Attorney General Jennings is joined in reaching the settlement by Attorneys General of Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Northern Mariana Islands, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Puerto Rico, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, U.S. Virgin Islands, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.