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Opioid maker Purdue Pharma shuts down as part of legal settlement with NY and other states
By
Joe Hong
Published May 1, 2026
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Michael A. McCoy/For The Washington Post via Getty Images
By
Joe Hong
Published May 1, 2026
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Purdue Pharma officially ended operations Friday, a year after the Sackler family reached a $7.4 billion settlement with a coalition of state attorneys general, including New York's, for the company’s role in fueling the opioid crisis.
“Under the Sacklers’ control, Purdue developed, manufactured and then misleadingly marketed its deadly opioids, destroying lives and communities across the country,” New York Attorney General Letitia James said in a written statement. “This company that put profits over people for decades is now shut down forever.
As part of Purdue Pharma’s bankruptcy plan, the opioid manufacturing company will be replaced by public benefit corporation Knoa Pharma, which will continue producing medications, including opioids. Knoa’s net profits will fund state, local and tribal efforts to prevent opioid abuse, according to James' office.
Knoa Pharma will not have any connection with any members of the Sackler family, as required by the settlement. However, the new company will receive all of Purdue's assets.
Andrew Kolodny, an opioid researcher at Brandeis University, was critical of the deal. He said Purdue Pharma should have been forced to sell all of its assets to pay states for the costs of the opioid crisis and that the family should have been criminally charged.
“The company should’ve been liquidated,” he said. “It’s a company that played a very large role in hundreds of thousands of deaths.”
The settlement also required both Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers to give billions of dollars to support opioid addiction treatment across the country.
New York has secured $250 million from the settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers, according to the attorney general’s office, along with $3 billion in additional funding from other opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Purdue Pharma, which manufactures the pain medication OxyContin, first filed for bankruptcy in 2019 after agreeing to pay billions in a separate settlement for conspiring to sell opioids to patients who did not need the drugs.
“This provides a measure of closure to a profoundly tragic chapter,” said Adam Koon, a public health professor at Georgetown University. “The focus must immediately shift from legal battles to providing the resources needed for community recovery."
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Joe Hong
Joe Hong is the investigative data reporter for WNYC and Gothamist. He previously covered K-12 education for several newsrooms across California. His reporting has led to local reforms in juvenile justice system as well as a state law requiring universal screening for dyslexia. Got a tip? Email [email protected]
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