The wealthy Sackler family, owners of Purdue Pharma, is set to pay $6bn (£4.5bn) for its role in America’s opioid epidemic under a new deal.
The sum is nearly $1.7bn more than a previous settlement.
Purdue, which filed for bankruptcy in 2019 amid thousands of lawsuits, made drugs like OxyContin, and is blamed for fuelling the opioid crisis.
Addiction to both legal and illegal opioid painkillers has been a serious, ongoing problem in the US.
The country saw nearly half a million deaths from overdoses between 1999 and 2019, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
— source bbc.com | 3 Mar 2022