Opioid maker Purdue Pharma shuts down as part of $7.4 billion deal

May 1, 2026, 4:40 p.m. ETPurdue Pharma, the bankrupted drug manufacturer at the center of the nation’s yearslong opioid epidemic, shut down May 1.The closure is part of a $7.4 billion deal reached after Purdue and the Sackler family, which privately owned the company, settled thousands of lawsuits filed by victims and several states to try to address harm caused by the drugs. Between 1999 and 2023, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated about 806,000 people died from opioid overdoses, using prescriptions such as Purdue's OxyContin and illegal opioids, seen prominently with fentanyl.Purdue filed for bankruptcy in 2019, and the company's bankruptcy plan went into effect May 1, nearly six months after a federal judge approved the settlement. The bankruptcy plan requires Purdue cease operations to form a new public benefit corporation called Knoa Pharma, which is run by a nonprofit foundation.“Under the Sacklers’ control, Purdue developed, manufactured, and then misleadingly marketed its deadly opioids, destroying lives and communities across the country,” New York Attorney Letitia James, a Democrat, said in a statement. “This company that put profits over people for decades is now shut down forever.”All members of the Sackler family are barred from selling opioids in