Purdue Pharma said on Friday it needs more time to build support for a new $7.4 billion settlement that could complete the company's years-long effort to resolve thousands of lawsuits over its addictive pain medication OxyContin.

The deal comes after the Supreme Court blocked a controversial bankruptcy plan for Purdue that shielded Sackler family members from future lawsuits.

The settlement is the largest deal to date with the people primarily who played an “instrumental role” in driving the opioid crisis, according to the office of Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell.

Members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, and the company itself, agreed to pay up to $7.4 billion in a new settlement to lawsuits over the toll of the prescription painkiller.

Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family who controlled it have agreed to pay up to $7.4bn (£6bn) to settle claims regarding its powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin. The deal represents an increase of more than $1bn on a previous settlement that was rejected in 2024 by the US Supreme Court, according to news agencies AP and Reuters.

Members of the Sackler family who own OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma, and the company itself, agreed to pay up to $7.4 billion to settle lawsuits over the toll of the powerful prescription painkiller.