Four drug companies settle case linked to opioid crisis for $260m
Three major US drug distributors and an Israeli drug manufacturer reached a $260 million settlement on Monday to avoid a trial in US federal court over who is responsible for the opioid crisis in two counties in the US state of Ohio.
Drug distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and Amerisource-Bergen agreed to pay a combined $215 million. Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, an Israel-based drugmaker, agreed to pay $20 million over the next two years and donate addiction-treatment drugs valued at $25 million.
The Ohio counties of Cuyahoga and Summit, which include the cities of Cleveland and Akron, seek to recover costs incurred during the opioid epidemic, including medical care, emergency services and foster care for children born to addicted parents.
Overdose deaths have hit Ohio hard. Federal data for 2017 alone ranked the state second in the nation for opioid overdose deaths, with 4,293 reported - a rate of 39 per 100,000 people, compared with the national rate of 14.6 overdose deaths per 100,000. Nationwide, about 400,000 people have died from overdoses of legal and illegal opioids since 1999, US government statistics show.
"The proposed settlement will make significant progress to abate the epidemic by providing resources for and applying funds directly to necessary opioid-recovering programs," attorneys for the plaintiffs said in a joint statement.
The settlement was reached in United States District Court in Cleveland as opening statements in the first federal trial were scheduled to begin. The trial was expected to last two months and would have been decided by a jury drawn from area residents. Last week, US District Court Judge Dan Polster ordered the trial to proceed when a settlement could not be reached.
Walgreens Boots Alliance, a fifth defendant in the case, didn't participate in the settlement. A trial to hear the evidence against the company was postponed, and the judge did not set a new date. Claims against a small distributor, Henry Schein, were previously settled for $1.25 million.
Monday's deal with the drug distributors adds to previous settlements valued at about $66.4 million that Cuyahoga and Summit counties reached with drugmakers Mallinckrodt, Endo International, Johnson & Johnson and Allergan.
The defendants denied any wrongdoing. The distribution companies said they distributed a legal product with federally approved warning labels, followed federal regulations and monitored suspicious orders, according to pretrial filings.
Many viewed the trial as a bellwether case that could establish the outline for settlement of about 2,500 pending lawsuits against drug manufacturers and distributors.
Lawsuits filed by states, cities, counties and Native American tribes allege that pharmaceutical companies aggressively sold opioid painkillers without adequately warning doctors and patients of potential risks of addiction and death by overdose.
In August, Johnson & Johnson lost at trial in Oklahoma, where a judge ordered the company to pay $572 million for its part in the state's opioid crisis. The judgment is expected to be reduced, since the ruling included $107.6 million for addiction treatment, which the judge later corrected to $107,600, saying he had miscalculated.
In addition, Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, and the company's owners reached a tentative agreement with 23 states and thousands of local governments to settle pending lawsuits.
scottreeves@chinadailyusa.com
(China Daily Global 10/23/2019 page1)
