Vermont Attorney General Charity Clark announced Monday that she and 54 attorneys general from U.S. states and territories agreed to sign on to a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma, maker of the painkiller OxyContin, and the Sackler family, owners of the drug firm.
If the bankruptcy court approves the agreement, Vermont will receive up to $21.85 million to support opioid prevention, treatment and recovery programs. The settlement would also make public more than 30 million documents related to Purdue and the Sacklers’ opioid business.
A bankruptcy court hearing is scheduled on June 18. If the settlement is approved, the case would go to state court for approval as well, according to the attorney general’s office.
This settlement was reached after the U.S. Supreme Court last year overturned the previous settlement, which would have provided about $6 billion to treatment programs and victims of the opioid epidemic but also shielded the Sackler family from future opioid-related lawsuits.
Purdue and the Sackler family agreed to the new settlement in January with a bipartisan coalition of states, including Vermont. The settlement, which resolves litigation over the role Purdue and the Sacklers had in the opioid crisis and ends their ability to sell opioids in the United States, is the nation’s largest to date with individuals linked to the opioid epidemic.
“Purdue and the Sackler family created and perpetuated a crisis that has stolen the lives of our loved ones, neighbors, and community members,” Clark wrote in a press release. “This settlement will never undo the suffering that has touched nearly every Vermont family, but it will hold Purdue and the Sacklers accountable for causing the devastating opioid crisis.”
According to the Vermont Department of Health, the wide majority of accidental and undetermined drug overdose deaths in the state involve opioids. The number of opioid-related fatal overdoses peaked in 2022 with 244 deaths, and then decreased by 22% between 2023 and 2024.
The settlement agreement states that Vermont’s funds would be divided to allocate 15% to the state,15% to municipalities, and 70% to the State Opioid Abatement Fund to tackle the opioid crisis.
“While we can never be sure about delays or complications that may arise, the parties worked very hard to address the concerns raised by all constituencies to the bankruptcy and the US Supreme Court,” Amelia Vath, outreach and communications coordinator for the attorney general’s office, wrote to VTDigger. “We feel confident about the prospect of approval.”
