The three largest US drug distributors agreed mid-trial to pay up to $1.18 billion to settle claims by New York state and two of its biggest counties over their role in the nation-wide opioid epidemic, the state’s attorney general said yesterday.
McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc and AmerisourceBergen Corp settled as state attorneys general prepare to announce as soon as this week a landmark $26 billion deal with the distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson resolving cases nationwide.
The deal with New York Attorney General Letitia James and the populous Long Island counties of Nassau and Suffolk came three weeks into the first jury trial accusing companies of profiting from a flood of addictive painkillers that devastated communities.
“While no amount of money will ever compensate for the millions of addictions, the hundreds of thousands of deaths, or the countless communities decimated by opioids, this money will be vital in preventing any future devastation,” James said.
State attorneys general from 10 states including Tennessee, Texas, Pennsylvania and North Carolina in a joint statement yesterday said their “negotiations are progressing well and potentially nearing their completion.”
After the framework is announced, states and their subdivisions will need to decide whether to join the global accord, the sources have said. The ultimate settlement price-tag could fluctuate depending on how many agree to the deal or reject it to pursue litigation on their own.
The settlement also calls the creation of a national clearing house of data on opioid shipments operated under the oversight of an independent third-party monitor.
Paul Geller, a lead negotiator for the plaintiffs at Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd, said that provision would be “transformative” in battling drug oversupply.
The New York trial will continue against three drugmakers accused of deceptively marketing their painkillers – Endo International Plcm, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd and AbbVie Inc’s Allergan unit.
Two other opioid cases are also on trial in West Virginia and California. The companies have denied wrongdoing.
James’ office said that of the nearly $1.18 billion the distributors agreed to pay, more than $1 billion will go toward addressing the epidemic. The counties have said the money will be used for mental health and addiction programmes.
Payments will start in two months and will continue over the next 17 years, James said.