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Iowa to get nearly $38 million from Purdue Pharma opioid settlement
Iowa’s share of a legal settlement with the maker of the opioid drug OxyContin is nearly $38 million.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and 54 attorneys general from states and U.S. territories signed onto the settlement with Purdue Pharma and the family that owns the company. Half of Iowa’s nearly $38 million share of the settlement will go to local governments in Iowa. The other half will go into a state fund set up to distribute money from settlements with companies that made, marketed and sold opioids.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said the settlement is “bittersweet” because “OxyContin is an extremely harmful and addictive drug.” State records indicate 238 Iowans died of an opioid overdose in 2023, although the names of the opioid taken are not listed.
Ten other companies that made or sold opioids have already agreed to settlements and have paid the State of Iowa over $56 million. After three years of negotiations, the legislature agreed this spring on a plan to distribute the money from the State’s Opioid Settlement Fund.
This latest settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family must be approved by a court before the money reaches Iowa and other states. The U.S. Supreme Court rejected a settlement offer last year that was nearly $3 billion less and would have shielded the Sackler family from civil lawsuits related to OxyContin’s use.
