US drug distributors settle opioid suit

Three major US drug distributors and a drug manufacturer reached a $260 million settlement Monday to avoid a trial in federal court seeking to affix blame for stoking the national opioid crisis.

Drug distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen agreed to pay $215 million. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israel-based drug maker, agreed to pay $20 million in the settlement and donate in the next two years addiction-treatment drugs valued at $25 million.

The settlement was reached in US District Court in Cleveland, Ohio, as opening statements were scheduled to begin. The trial was expected to last two months.

Walgreens Boots Alliance, a fifth defendant in the case, didn't reach a settlement. The trial to hear the evidence against the company will be postponed, US District Court Judge Dan Polster said.

Previously, the distributors offered to pay $18 billion over 18 years to settle the cases filed by Cuyahoga and Summit counties, which include the cities of Cleveland and Akron, Ohio. The cities seek to recover costs incurred during the opioid epidemic, including medical care, emergency services and foster care for children born to addicted parents.

Many view the trial as a bellwether case that could establish the outline for settlement of about 2,500 pending lawsuits against drug manufacturers and distributors. The counties allege that the companies named as defendants controlled about 95 percent of the US drug-distribution market in 2018 and failed to establish standards to halt suspicious orders as addiction and deaths rose.

The distribution companies counter that the distributed a legal product, followed federal regulations and monitored suspicious orders, pretrial filings show.

About 400,000 people have died from overdoses of legal and illegal opioids since 1999, US government statistics show. Oxycodone, sold widely under the brand name OxyContin, is a prescription opioid pain killer. Some doctors wrote unnecessary prescriptions for the drug and it was later sold illegally on the street, law enforcement officials said.