The US Supreme Court is tearing up the settlement that gives the family behind the drug Oxycontin protection from lawsuits.
An American appeals court decided last year that the Sackler family, who own the pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma, would receive full immunity from civil lawsuits in exchange for paying approximately SEK 60 billion to handle the consequences of the opioid epidemic.
The company manufactured the pain-relieving and highly addictive drug Oxycontin, which led to an opioid epidemic primarily in the USA.
The Supreme Court decided on Thursday that the Sackler family, who have earned tens of billions of dollars from their opioids, should not be protected from civil lawsuits. This means that both victims and relatives of victims can sue the family.
Hundreds of thousands of people have lost their lives in the opioid crisis and several million Americans are estimated to be dependent on opioids.
