The Wall Street Journal reports that a bipartisan group of state attorneys general has revealed a $26 billion dollar settlement with three drug distributors and a pharmaceutical company to resolve thousands of opioid lawsuits across the country.
Politico reports the agreement is the result of a “yearslong effort by state and local governments in the U.S. to force the pharmaceutical industry to help pay to fix a nationwide opioid addiction and overdose crisis.” Politico says that “under the deal, Johnson & Johnson would not produce any opioids for at least a decade. And AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson share prescribing information under a new system intended to stop the avalanches of pills that arrived in some regions about a decade ago.”
The Washington Post reports that the agreement “with three major drug distributors – McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen – and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson,” may potentially release “the companies from current and future litigation if a critical mass of communities across the country agree to drop their cases.”
The New York Times explains “the offer will now go out to every state and municipality in the country for approval.” If enough localities formally sign the deal, “billions of dollars from the companies could begin to be released to help communities pay for addiction treatment and prevention services and other steep financial costs of the epidemic.” The Times adds that the settlement only binds the four companies, “leaving thousands of other lawsuits against many other pharmaceutical defendants, including manufacturers and drugstore chains, in the mammoth nationwide litigation still unresolved.”
Reuters reports attorneys general from 15 states were involved in brokering the deal, while some others “were cool on the agreement.” Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said, “There’s not enough money in the world frankly to address the pain and suffering,” but he added that the money will “help where help is needed.” States have 30 days to examine the agreement and “local governments have up to 120 days to join.” North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said, “The expectation is north of 40 and well north of 40 will sign on.” Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry proclaimed “States that don’t sign on are being irresponsible…We don’t want perfect to be the enemy of the good.” In order “To receive the full payout, the agreement needs support from at least 48 states, 98% of litigating local governments and 97% of the jurisdictions that have yet to sue.”
The AP reports the distribution companies said in a statement: “While the companies strongly dispute the allegations made in these lawsuits, they believe the proposed settlement agreement and settlement process it establishes … are important steps toward achieving broad resolution of governmental opioid claims and delivering meaningful relief to communities across the United States.”
Drugmakers, pharmacies next targets for US opioid settlements. Reuters reports that in light of a potential $26 billion nationwide deal with the three largest opioid distributors, “state and local governments will soon turn their attention to pharmacies and a handful of drugmakers.” In the proposed settlement, US state attorneys general are expected to announce “McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and AmerisourceBergen Corp contributing a combined $21 billion, while Johnson & Johnson would pay $5 billion.” Excluded from the settlement “are pharmacy operators including Walgreens Boots Alliance, Walmart Inc, Rite Aid Corp and CVS Health Corp, which have been accused of ignoring red flags that opioid drugs were being diverted into illegal channels.” Furthermore, drugmakers AbbVie, Teva, and Endo are also missing from the settlement even though they “have been accused of misleadingly marketing their pain medicines as safe.”
From the news release of the American Association for Justice.
