Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison announced on May 1 that the state will receive $59 million as part of a national $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family. The agreement comes after nearly ten years of investigations and litigation involving the company’s role in the opioid crisis, especially through its drug Oxycontin.
The settlement is part of a broader effort by Ellison’s office to address opioid-related harm in Minnesota. Including this latest agreement, Minnesota has now secured $633 million from 21 settlements with opioid companies. Under a law passed in 2022, all funds obtained through these settlements are dedicated to treatment, remediation, and prevention efforts within the state.
Ellison said that holding companies accountable was essential: “No amount of money can ever make up for the death, devastation, and destruction opioid companies caused in every corner of Minnesota. Nevertheless, it’s been critically important to hold them accountable — and no company more so than Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family members that controlled it.” He added: “In addition to the dollars for opioid recovery in Minnesota and the end of Purdue’s and the Sacklers’ ability to make and market opioids, today’s settlement also provides that they will hand over more than 30 million internal documents that will show in excruciating detail exactly what they did to us and how they did it. This kind of transparency is critical so that they and no other company can ever do it again.”
The terms specify that 75 percent of all settlement funds go directly to cities and counties while 25 percent goes to the state government. The public disclosure component requires Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers to release over 30 million documents related to their business practices; these materials will be archived at University of California–San Francisco with oversight by Ellison’s office.
After legal actions beginning as early as 2016—including direct lawsuits against both Purdue Pharma for deceptive marketing practices and later eight members of the Sackler family—Minnesota joined a coalition representing all eligible U.S. states agreeing on this final resolution. The deal permanently bars members of the Sackler family from selling opioids in America.
Most funds are expected within three years; additional payments from both Purdue Pharma (now Knoa Pharma LLC) under independent oversight will continue through at least May 2029.
