According to a new agreement, Vermont is set to receive at least $36.4 million for opioid treatment and prevention, as part of its share of a national settlement with the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma, the company they used to own.
The settlement cleared a hurdle with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York determining that it did not violate the bankruptcy code.
“The Bankruptcy Court’s approval of Vermont’s settlement with the Sacklers and Purdue brings us all one step closer to the goal of holding industry accountable and putting money back into our communities to help fund treatment, prevention, and recovery services” said Attorney General TJ Donovan in a press release Tuesday.
Under the terms, Vermont is set to receive $36.4 million and up to an additional $1.4 million conditional on the Second Circuit Court of Appeals overturning an earlier District Court decision, the release states.
This new multibillion dollar settlement has led to a nearly three-fold increase over the $12.58 million Vermont was slated to receive through the original bankruptcy plan of the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma, the now defunct manufacturer of OxyContin which played a key role in the nation’s opioid epidemic.
The original bankruptcy settlement of $4.3 billion was rejected by a federal judge in Manhattan in December after some states, including Vermont, and the Justice Department filed an appeal, objecting to the unprecedented legal immunity it gave the Sackler family and said the amount was not enough for the damage done.
This is part of a series of settlements between Vermont and companies
that manufactured or promoted opioids, including a $64 million settlement with Johnson & Johnson last month and $1.5 million with McKinsey in 2021, the release stated.
The settlements have totaled more than $100 million “to abate the ongoing opioid crisis in our state,” Donovan said in an email.
State data shows that a record 181 Vermonters died of an opioid overdose in the first 11 months of 2021.
– Talia Heisey
