The Colorado Attorney General’s Office, along with 14 other states, helped secure a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family over its role in fueling the ongoing opioid crisis.

The resolution comes on the heels of a previous settlement that was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court in June 2024. The new agreement is more than $1 billion more than the initial settlement.

Purdue Pharma is the maker of OxyContin, a powerful prescription painkiller that has been a significant factor in the opioid epidemic striking the country since 2011.

Nearly 108,000 people died from drug overdose in 2022 and approximately 82,000 of those deaths involved opioids, around 76%, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.

The settlement will ultimately end the Sackler family’s control of Purdue and their ability to sell opioids in the United States, according to a Thursday press release from the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. It will also deliver funding to communities across the country over the next 15 years to support opioid addiction treatment, prevention and recovery programs.

The settlement still needs court approval, but if approved, it will be the nation’s largest settlement to date with individuals responsible for contributing to the opioid crisis.

The Sacklers agreed to pay $6.5 billion and Purdue to pay $900 million, for a total of $7.4 billion, with the majority of the money being paid over the first three years.

Colorado will receive approximately $81 million from the settlement.

Attorney General Phil Weiser and his office have already secured $787 million in opioid settlements over the past few years.

“The first lawsuit I filed to hold a drug maker accountable for creating and fueling the opioid crisis was against Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers in July 2019,” Weiser said in the release. “That’s because Purdue and the Sacklers profited off fueling a devastating opioid crisis that has greatly harmed communities and families across Colorado.”