Purdue Nearing Deal Over Opioids as 23 States Agree to Pact

Purdue Pharma LP is closing in on a deal with about half of U.S. states and territories to settle claims it illegally marketed opioid painkillers, agreeing to provide about $12 billion to help communities confront a public-health crisis tied to the medicines, according to people familiar with the negotiations.

Twenty-three states and three territories told a judge Wednesday they’d support a plan under which the billionaire Sackler family –- which owns Purdue –- would file for bankruptcy, hand itself over to a trust controlled by the states, cities and counties that have sued, and sell its U.K.-based drugmaker Mundipharma, the people said. Purdue’s board must still sign off on the deal. The people spoke on the condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the talks.