Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family, which controls the company, have agreed to pay up to $7.4bn (£6bn) to resolve claims over its powerful prescription painkiller OxyContin.

The deal adds more than $1 billion to the previous settlement Rejected by U.S. Supreme Court in 2024According to the Associated Press and Reuters.

Under the terms of the settlement, the Sackler family agreed to pay up to $6.5 billion and Purdue agreed to pay $900 million.

OxyContin, often a gateway to harder drugs like heroin, has been blamed for exacerbating America’s deadly opioid crisis and generating billions of dollars for the Sackler family.

Purdue University said in a statement: “We are very pleased to have reached a new agreement that will provide billions of dollars to compensate victims, alleviate the opioid crisis, and provide treatment and overdose rescue drugs to save lives. ”

The deal still requires court approval and some details have not been finalized, but the AP said it is one of the largest settlements in a series of lawsuits by locals, states, Native American tribal governments and others seeking to hold the company accountable for the fatal epidemic.

The federal government, under President Donald Trump, is not expected to oppose the new deal, the Associated Press reported.

Connecticut Attorney General William Tang told Reuters the settlement would help end the opioid crisis for victims.

“It’s not just about money,” Tong said. “There’s not enough money in the world to solve this problem.”

Since 1999, a few years after the drug became available, the number of opioid overdose deaths has surged to tens of thousands each year.

Court documents say the Sacklers were aware of the legal risks early and withdrew about $11 billion from the company in the decade before it went bankrupt. They hid much of the money offshore while using some of it to pay corporate taxes, making recovery difficult.