The city of Baltimore was awarded $266 million in its lawsuit accusing major drug distributors McKesson and Cencora of fueling the opioid addiction epidemic in the United States, and is expected to seek billions more in the next phase of the trial.
On Tuesday, following a nearly two-month trial, a six-person jury in Baltimore Circuit Court found McKesson liable for $192 million and Cencora $74 million. This amount represents damages paid to the city for the harm caused by the two companies.
Baltimore, which has been hit hard by the opioid crisis, has opted out of major national opioid deals in recent years in hopes of making more money on its own. In 2022, Baltimore recorded 904 opioid overdose deaths, out of a total population of approximately 569,000, while the national rate of opioid overdose deaths was approximately 25 per 100,000.
Next month, the city is expected to ask Judge Lawrence Fletcher-Hill for about $9 billion from the companies to pay for the cost of fighting the opioid crisis in the future. This is a legal remedy known as an abatement, which is distinct from civil damages.
Baltimore accuses Cencora, formerly AmerisourceBergen, and McKesson of ignoring warning signs that the opioids they supplied were being diverted into illegal channels. The companies deny these accusations.
“Justice has been served,” said Baltimore attorney Bill Carmody. “The jury’s verdict is an important step in helping Baltimore recover so that it can continue to be one of the best cities in America and a place where all of its citizens can be healthy and successful.
Both companies said they would seek to overturn the verdict. McKesson said in a statement that the verdict “fundamentally misunderstands McKesson’s limited role as a distributor of pharmaceutical products.”
Cencora said the verdict “jeopardizes the legal and ethical tightrope that society is asked to walk between providing access to needed medications and preventing the diversion of controlled substances.”
Baltimore is one of more than 3,000 local, Native American tribal and state governments across the country that have filed similar lawsuits against drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies over the opioid crisis. The vast majority of these cases were settled in nationwide settlements, which now total about $46 billion.
With Tuesday’s verdict, which comes after a series of settlements with other companies including Walgreens and Johnson & Johnson, Baltimore was awarded more than $668 million in verdicts and settlements.
McKesson supplied about half of Baltimore’s opioids between 2006 and 2019, according to U.S. government data. In 2017, the company reached a $150 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, under which it admitted to failing in its duty to prevent illegal drug sales nationwide.
Cencora is also the subject of a civil lawsuit filed by the Justice Department for its alleged role in the opioid crisis.
More than 800,000 people in the United States died from opioid overdoses between 1999 and 2023, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
