Who joins Purdue on pharma's top 10 settlements list? Merck, GSK and Pfizer, for starters

Purdue’s pending opioid settlement with thousands of cities and counties, worth between $10 billion and $12 billion, could rank as the largest deal ever inked by a pharma if it passes a Cleveland federal judge’s muster. But where do pharma’s other major settlements fall on that list? The top 10 largest federal settlements list is a who’s who of some of pharma’s biggest companies, including Merck, Pfizer, Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly. If Purdue’s deal is approved, it would more than double the amount from the closest federal settlement—Merck takes an ignoble second place with a Vioxx settlement signed in 2007—but it could be eclipsed by other drugmakers ensnared in national opioid lawsuits. Purdue’s path to the negotiating table was a long one, as the OxyContin maker and its billionaire founding family, the Sacklers, have become the face of the nation’s opioid epidemic. On Wednesday, the drugmaker reportedly inked a $12 billion deal with thousands of cities and counties and 23 states that would immediately send the drugmaker into bankruptcy and restructuring. The deal isn’t just a hit to the company: The Sacklers would be required to shell out $3 billion of their own money as part of the deal.