FILE — Cars pass Purdue Pharma headquarters, Sept. 12, 2019, in Stamford, Conn. A federal mediator is expected to announce Wednesday, Feb. 16, 2022 or Thursday whether Purdue Pharma and a group of holdout state attorneys general have been able to reach a new settlement in the OxyContin maker's bankruptcy case.
The additional money would have to be used to combat a crisis that has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades. Part of it would be controlled by the eight states, joined by the District of Columbia, that objected to the original settlement last year even when other states agreed to it.
Advocates for opioid victims and their families were concerned about where the additional money would go. Ryan Hampton, an advocate for people with opioid use disorder, said it did not appear that the $750 million set aside for payments to victims of the crisis and their families would increase under the latest proposal.
State attorneys general offices contacted Friday by The Associated Press declined comment or did not respond. A spokeswoman for one branch of the Sackler family also declined to comment, while a representative for the other side did not respond.