Maker of OxyContin set to dissolve after judge approves criminal sentence

Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, is set to be dissolved and replaced by a company focused on the public good by the week's end, as a massive legal settlement resolving thousands of lawsuits takes effect. It's a long-awaited decision for thousands of families impacted by the opioid crisis , which has been linked to an estimated 900,000-plus deaths since 1999. The sentence The guilty plea and civil settlement with the federal government included $8.3 billion in forfeitures, fines and penalties. But the federal government agreed in a negotiated settlement to collect just $225 million in exchange for Purdue reaching a separate settlement on the thousands of lawsuits it faced from state, local and Native American tribal governments, along with other groups. Purdue's guilty plea did not include restitution to victims. After years of legal twists and turns — and $1 billion and counting in legal and professional fees for the parties — the broader sentence was approved by a bankruptcy judge in November. The settlement , which Purdue says could take effect as soon as Friday, calls for members of the Sackler family who own the company to contribute up to $7 billion over 15 years. Most of the money is to go to government entities to use to fight the opioid crisis. A Purdue lawyer said most of the lawsuits against the company over opioids did not include specific financial claims, but the ones that did totaled over $40 trillion in damages. …