OxyContin-maker Purdue Pharma reportedly has reached a tentative agreement with 22 state attorneys general and 2,000 cities and counties to settle a lawsuit accusing the company of fueling the opioid crisis.

The Washington Post reported the deal calls for the Sackler family to give up control of the Samford, Connecticut, company. Purdue Pharma would declare bankruptcy and then re-emerge as a trust set up to combat the opioid epidemic.

The company has denied its aggressive marketing of OxyContin contributed to the opioid crisis.

The executive committee of lawyers representing the plaintiffs in the consolidated federal lawsuit against Purdue Pharma and other drug companies is expected to recommend acceptance of the deal although a number of attorneys general say they are not satisfied. They want the Sacklers to contribute more from their personal fortunes.

“The Sacklers have offered $3 billion in cash as part of the global resolution," Josephine Martin, Purdue Pharma's head of corporate affairs and communications, wrote in an email to NPR. She said the family also has offered to contribute $1.5 billion from the sale of another of its companies, Mundipharma.

"Purdue Pharma believes a settlement that benefits the American public now is a far better path than years of wasteful litigation and appeals," the company said in a statement. "Those negotiations continue, and we remain dedicated to a resolution that genuinely advances the public interest."

The attorneys general had been seeking $4.5 billion from the Sacklers’ personal fortunes and wanted to force Purdue Pharma into a structured bankruptcy rather than Chapter 11.

"We needed more security on the part of the Sacklers that the money they were pledging, they would in fact pay," North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein told NPR.

Purdue Pharma is negotiating separately with the Justice Department to resolve criminal and civil investigations, the Wall Street Journal reported.

Another drugmaker targeted by the suits, Mallinkrodt (MNK), last week agreed to pay $24 million to two Ohio counties.

“We actually think we now may have a pathway to settle this, and that’s what we’re going to be working on for the next several months,” CEO Mark Trudeau told at a conference Tuesday.

More than 702,000 Americans died of opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2017, 68% of which were attributed to prescription drugs, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports.

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