Washington (USA), 23 Jan (LaPresse) – The Sackler family and their pharmaceutical company Purdue Pharma will pay $7.4 billion for the opioid crisis, which has caused hundreds of thousands of deaths and driven millions of Americans to drug addiction, after an agreement reached with several EU states. Thursday's agreement, which will see the funds directed to opioid-affected communities and individuals, is the largest of several deals involving various pharmaceutical companies and pharmacy chains for the production and distribution of these highly addictive drugs. The $7.4 billion settlement was agreed ‘in principle with members of the Sackler family and their company Purdue Pharma for their instrumental role in creating the opioid crisis,’ New York Attorney General Letitia James' office said in a statement. Purdue and other opioid manufacturers and distributors have been accused of encouraging open prescribing of their products through unscrupulous marketing strategies while knowingly concealing the risks associated with taking these drugs.
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