CNN
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CVS and Walgreens tentatively agreed to pay a total of $10 billion to settle lawsuits brought by states and local governments alleging retailers mishandled opioid painkiller prescriptions.
Walmart has tentatively agreed to pay $3 billion to settle a similar lawsuit. Bloomberg reported, citing sources on the subject. The exit said the deal won’t be finalized until enough states, counties, and cities agree to terms.
CNN reached out to Walmart for comment.
resume aforementioned If the deal is reached, it will pay the states about $5 billion over 10 years, starting in 2023. Walgreens also said it will make approximately $5 billion in improvement payments over 15 years.
“We believe this is now in the best interests of the company and our stakeholders, and we allow our pharmacists, dedicated healthcare professionals, who live and work in the communities they serve, to continue to play a critical role in providing education and resources to help them fight opioid abuse and misuse.” said Walgreens.
CVS also said it wants to curb opioid abuse.
“We are pleased to resolve these long-standing allegations and it is in the interest of all parties, as well as our customers, colleagues and shareholders, to put them behind us,” said Thomas Moriarty, general counsel at CVS. “We are committed to working with states, municipalities and tribes and will continue our own significant initiatives to help reduce the illicit use of prescription opioids.”
US states, cities and counties filed more than 3,000 lawsuits accused opioid manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies of underestimating the risk of addiction and failing to prevent the pills from being diverted for illegal use.
More than 500,000 overdose deaths have been blamed in the past two decades – including more than 80,000 in 2021 alone. US opioid crisisgovernment data shows that an estimated 9.5 million Americans aged 12 and over in 2020 misused opioidsIncluding 9.3 million prescription painkiller addicts and 902,000 heroin users.
Meanwhile, synthetic opioids, especially fentanyl, caused almost two-thirds The CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics found that more than 100,000 deaths from drug overdose in the United States in the 12-month period ending April 2021 – 49% from the previous year.
Opioids are drugs formulated to mimic the pain-reducing properties of opium and include prescription pain relievers such as morphine, oxycodone, and hydrocodone, and illicit drugs such as heroin and heroin. illegally made fentanyl.
People who become addicted to opioids may experience withdrawal symptoms when they stop using them, and addiction is often combined with tolerance, meaning users have to take increasingly larger doses for the same effect.
In August, a federal judge ruled CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart have to pay a total of $650.6 million to two Ohio states for damages related to the opioid crisis. The lawsuit was first filed in 2018 as part of a federal multi-district lawsuit created that year to address various claims against opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries announced in July and a nationwide proposed $4.35 billion deal This could solve thousands of lawsuits over the drugmaker’s alleged role in the US opioid epidemic.
Purdue Pharma – OxyContin pain reliever widely blamed for kickstart opioid crisis – and in March the Sackler families 6 billion dollars will be paid to states, individual claimants and mitigation of the opioid crisis if approved by a federal bankruptcy court judge.
And Johnson & Johnson and the three largest US drug distributors – McKesson Corp, Cardinal Health Inc, and AmerisourceBergen Corp. finalized and nationwide $26 billion Opioid placement in February.
