Press Release: 6/18/2025
55 Attorneys General Sign On To $7.4 Billion Purdue Settlement
Massachusetts Will Receive Up To $105 Million
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
6/17/2025
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Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary
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Call Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary at (617) 727-2543
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Email Allie Zuliani, Deputy Press Secretary at Allie.Zuliani@mass.gov
BOSTON — Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell today announced that all 55 attorneys general, representing all eligible states and U.S. territories, agreed to sign on to a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family. The Sackler family has also informed the attorneys general of its plan to proceed with the settlement, which would resolve litigation against Purdue and Sacklers for their role in creating and worsening the opioid crisis across the country. Now that the state sign-on period has concluded, local governments across the country will be asked to join the settlement contingent on bankruptcy court proceedings.
Under the Sacklers’ ownership, Purdue made and aggressively marketed opioid products for decades, fueling the largest drug crisis in the nation’s history. The settlement ends the Sacklers’ control of Purdue and their ability to sell opioids in the United States. Communities across the country will directly receive funds over the next 15 years to support addiction treatment, prevention, and recovery. This settlement in principle, which AG Campbell helped to secure in January, is the nation’s largest settlement to date with individuals responsible for the opioid crisis. Massachusetts’s state and local governments will be eligible to receive as much as $105 million from this settlement over the next 15 years. The settlement will depend on court approval of Purdue’s bankruptcy plan, which the court is expected to consider at a confirmation hearing later this year.
The Sacklers will pay $1.5 billion and Purdue will pay roughly $900 million in the first payment, expected in early 2026 pending settlement approval. Subsequent payments will be $500 million after one year, an additional $500 million after two years, and $400 million after three years.
Like prior opioid settlements, the settlement with Purdue and the Sacklers is intended to resolve legal claims by state and local governments. The local government sign-on and voting solicitation process for this settlement moving forward will be the subject of a bankruptcy court hearing in the coming days.
Including this new settlement, Massachusetts has obtained settlements committing more than $1 billion in funds from companies that helped fuel the opioid epidemic.
Attorney General Campbell is joined in securing this settlement in principle by the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, 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, and Wisconsin, Wyoming.
In Massachusetts, this matter was handled by Deputy Division Chief Ethan Marks, Assistant Attorneys General Gregory Hardy, Lisa Gaulin, Nina Cohen, and Emiliano Mazlen, Analyst Philipp Nowak, and Paralegal Gaëlle Bouaziz of the AG’s Health Care Division, Assistant Attorney General Matthew Lashof-Sullivan of the AG’s Consumer Protection Division, Director of Investigations Marlee Leo of the Civil Investigations Division, Deputy Bureau Chief Mary Freeley of the AG’s Health Care and Fair Competition Bureau, and Deputy Attorney General Sara Cable.