Companies, Ohio counties reach $260 million settlement over opioid crisis

October 22, 2019 By
See the full CNN story here.

See the full CNN story here.

Four pharmaceutical companies have reached a $260 million settlement in response to the national opioid epidemic.

The settlement, announced on Oct. 21, was reached on the eve of a first-of-its-kind federal trial, CNN reports.

The settlement totaling $260 million was reached between four companies — McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., AmerisourceBergen Corp., and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. — and plaintiffs, Summit and Cuyahoga counties in Ohio, the news site reports.

The case was dismissed with prejudice, according to U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster. 

Earlier this year, Johnson & Johnson reached a tentative settlement in Ohio in response to a federal lawsuit over the nation’s opioid epidemic, agreeing to pay $10 million to Cuyahoga and Summit counties, Ohio, as well as reimburse $5 million in legal fees and donate $5.4 million for opioid-related programs.

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Lawsuits pile up against Purdue Pharma, other drug companies over OxyContin

April 10, 2019 By
Photograph: Jessica Hill/AP, published in a report by The Guardian on 3/28/19.

Photograph: Jessica Hill/AP, published in a report by The Guardian on 3/28/19.

Amid hints of a pending bankruptcy filing, officials are weighing their options in a mounting legal push against Purdue Pharma, manufacturer of the narcotic prescription painkiller, OxyContin.

Oklahoma settled for $270 million with Purdue and the company’s owners, the Sackler family, The Guardian reports. Oklahoma’s attorney general, Mike Hunter, feared that the state might be left unable to collect if the company filed for bankruptcy, according to the publication.

“The $75m payment by members of the Sackler family, as part of the $270m, was a first,” The Guardian notes, “the first time the family has directly contributed toward addressing the consequences of the opioid epidemic.”

“The Oklahoma settlement is a foretaste of a barrage of civil lawsuits in the pipeline against not only Purdue but dozens of drug manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies as cities and states seek billions of dollars from those they blame for the biggest drug epidemic in US history,” The Guardian reports.

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