Settlements continue to be reached in nationwide opioid litigation, with the latest agreement by the country’s largest pharmacy chains—CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart—to pay $650.5 million in damages for their role in the deadly opioid epidemic. It’s the first such ruling by a federal judge, following a jury trial and verdict that found the companies responsible for dispensing mass quantities of prescription painkillers over the years while ignoring flagrant warning signs that the pills were being abused. The latest deal—concerning two Ohio counties badly hit by the opioid epidemic—follows settlements with opioid manufacturers, including Purdue Pharma, and drug distributors, all part of thousands of cases brought by states, local governments, and Native American tribes to hold the opioid industry accountable for the deaths of more than one million Americans over the past two decades. The money will be paid out in installments over 15 years, which will supply a steady stream of funding to governments coping with the aftermath of the crisis, and for increasing drug treatment and prevention programs. For its part, Walgreens is facing another potentially large settlement in a San Francisco case, where a judge has already ruled the company is responsible for “looking the other way” as opioid abuse increased.
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Rosenthal Center for AddictIon Studies