A US judge said on Thursday he now anticipates a decision on the reorganization plan for the bankruptcy of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP on Wednesday next week instead of this week because he needs more oral arguments on some issues.

US bankruptcy judge Robert Drain was originally scheduled to rule on Friday, August 27. Drain did not specify the issues he needs to know more about.

If Drain approved the deal, it would pave the way for the resolution of thousands of opioid-related lawsuits and protect the wealthy owners of the company’s Sackler family from future litigation.

The plan, which Purdue values ​​at more than $ 10 billion, would dissolve the drugmaker and transfer its assets to a new company not controlled by members of the Sackler family. The new company is said to be owned by a trust managed to fight the opioid epidemic in American communities, which alleged that the company and its owners had aggressively marketed the painkiller OxyContin while minimizing its risks of abuse and overdose .

The plan also includes legal releases protecting members of the Sackler family from future opioid-related litigation, a controversial provision some states have opposed. In recent weeks, Congressional Democrats have circulated legislation to block these legal releases and urged the Justice Department to appeal the plan, efforts that have failed to gain traction.

The Sacklers have denied allegations, raised in lawsuits and elsewhere, that they are responsible for the opioid epidemic. They said they acted ethically and legally while serving on Purdue’s board of directors.

The Stamford, Connecticut drugmaker pleaded guilty to criminal charges in November for handling opioids. At the start of his bankruptcy case, Purdue said there were a number of legal defenses he could put in place in response to lawsuits alleging improper conduct.

Purdue’s bankruptcy plan https://www.reuters.com/legal/transactional/15-more-us-states-reach-settlement-oxycontin-maker-purdue-bankruptcy-2021-07-08 includes contribution of 4 , $ 5 billion from Sackler family members. The contribution is in the form of cash which would be paid over about ten years and of a value resulting from the abandonment of the control of charitable institutions.

(Reporting by Mike Spector and Maria Chutchian in New York Editing by Edward Tobin, Noeleen Walder and Matthew Lewis)