Judge conditionally approves Purdue Pharma opioid settlement

By GEOFF MULVIHILL
Associated Press

A federal bankruptcy judge has approved with conditions a historic opioid settlement between Purdue Pharma and thousands of local and state governments. The agreement accepted Wednesday caps a long-running legal drama involving a company that had come to symbolize the corporate culpability behind an epidemic that has claimed more than 500,000 lives over the past two decades. Under the settlement, the OxyContin maker will be reorganized into a new company that will funnel its profits into efforts to fight the overdose crisis. Members of the Sackler family will give up ownership of the company company and pay $4.5 billion, but they also will be freed from any future civil liability involving opioids.