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Corporate scandalsPartially resolved

Last updated November 14, 2025

Purdue Pharma after the Supreme Court blocked the old opioid deal

The company behind OxyContin and one of the central villains of the opioid crisis.

Dateline

United States

Editorial note

Compiled by After the Headline from public reporting, court filings, official records, and the sources cited below.

Current status

The Supreme Court blocked Purdue's earlier bankruptcy settlement in 2024, but all 50 state attorneys general backed a new $7.4 billion settlement in 2025 and a bankruptcy judge signaled approval later that year.

What we know

The Supreme Court blocked Purdue's earlier bankruptcy settlement in 2024, but all 50 state attorneys general backed a new $7.4 billion settlement in 2025 and a bankruptcy judge signaled approval later that year.

What's still unclear

A lot of people think the Purdue story ended years ago. It didn't. The biggest settlement structure actually had to be torn up and rebuilt.

Deep dive

What happened next

The details most readers never saw once the original coverage cycle moved on.

Purdue Pharma is a perfect example of a story that felt settled until it wasn't. The old bankruptcy plan would have given the Sackler family sweeping civil immunity in exchange for billions of dollars, but in June 2024 the Supreme Court rejected that structure. That was a huge disruption to one of the biggest civil resolutions in modern U.S. history. The case then had to be rebuilt. In June 2025, Reuters reported that all 50 state attorneys general agreed to support a new $7.4 billion settlement, and by November 2025 a bankruptcy judge said he would approve the revised plan. So the real follow-up is not just 'there was a settlement.' It's that the biggest opioid bankruptcy deal in America was blocked at the highest court, then rebuilt in a new form.

Timeline

Key updates

The sequence of major developments, ordered from newest to oldest.

Update

The Supreme Court blocked Purdue's earlier bankruptcy settlement in 2024, but all 50 state attorneys general backed a new $7.4 billion settlement in 2025 and a bankruptcy judge signaled approval later that year.

November 14, 2025

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Related stories

Other follow-ups readers of this story are likely to want next.

Sources

Reporting and records

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