British Columbia Reaches $116 Million Settlement With Purdue Pharma Over Opioid Crisis

Bottles of prescription painkiller OxyContin made by Purdue Pharma LP sit on a shelf at a local pharmacy in Provo, Utah, on April 25, 2017. George Frey/Reuters

Canada’s British Columbia province said on Wednesday it reached a C$150 million ($116.50 million) settlement with OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma Canada over healthcare costs related to the opioid crisis.

Purdue had been named as one of more than 40 defendants—drugmakers and distributors—in a proposed class-action lawsuit brought by British Columbia in 2018 on behalf of all provincial and federal Canadian governments. The lawsuit aims to recover healthcare costs for the “wrongful conduct of opioid manufacturers, distributors, and their consultants.”