US pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen are willing to spend a lot of money to wipe out nearly 4,000 procedures related to the opioid crisis in the United States. Together they will pay up to $26 billion (more than 22 billion euros), according to the details of a settlement that the attorneys general of several states announced on Wednesday.
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Thousands of lawsuits filed by US states, counties and cities are pending against the four pharmaceutical companies. They accuse the companies of contributing their painkillers to the wave of addiction and overdose in the country that has claimed the lives of more than half a million people by some estimates.
The companies have been negotiating with various states for years about a global settlement. The deal is now complete, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced on Wednesday. In total, the four companies will pay up to $26 billion in settlements. The vast majority of the money paid will go towards the treatment and prevention of opioid addiction.
The drug distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen will account for up to 21 billion dollars, spread over the next eighteen years. Producer J&J will pay up to $5 billion over nine years, with up to $3.7 billion in the first three years.
How much the pharmacies will actually have to cough up depends on how many states and local governments sign up for the settlement. New York is already participating, James said, while other states have 30 days to join. Local governments in participating states will be given 150 days.
“The proposed global agreement, if approved by a significant number of states and local governments in the country, would settle the claims of nearly 4,000 entities that have filed lawsuits in federal and state courts against the four companies,” the statement said. James.
“Without eight for human lives”
In addition, J&J agrees to stop selling opioids in the US and share clinical trial data. The three distributors then agree to introduce a number of measures to better map opioid sales and allow independent monitoring.
“The numerous companies that produced and distributed opioids across the nation did so without regard for human lives or the national crisis they helped fuel,” James said. “Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen not only helped light the match, but continued to fuel the fires of opioid addiction for more than two decades.”
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein insists that “no amount of money will ever be enough” to make up for the damage the crisis has done. But it is a “historic amount” that will be used for “much-needed treatment and withdrawal”.
In a joint response, the three distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen say they “strongly” dispute the allegations. The deal is an important step toward “achieving a comprehensive resolution of government opioid claims and meaningful relief for communities in the United States.”
Claims are also still pending against several other pharmaceutical companies in the US in connection with the opioid crisis. They are not involved in this agreement.
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