New York State on Tuesday announced a new out-of-court settlement worth $ 1.1 billion with three major U.S. drug distributors accused of contributing to the opioid crisis, a possible prelude to a national deal that could be announced this week.
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The deal announced Tuesday by prosecutor Letitia James – the largest so far obtained by New York State, particularly determined to prosecute companies accused of contributing to the opioid crisis – allows the three distributors, McKesson, Cardinal Health and Amerisource Bergen, to withdraw from a civil lawsuit currently pending before jurors on Long Island, set to last several months.
The Johnson & Johnson laboratory had already reached an agreement at the end of June with the New York prosecutor, providing for it to pay this state some $ 230 million.
These New York agreements are intended to become the bricks of a national agreement, under negotiation since October 2019, which would allow many states and local authorities to put an end to hundreds of disputes initiated against the three distributors and J&J.
According to anonymous sources quoted by American media, this national agreement could weigh some 26 billion dollars, including 21 billion payable by the three distributors over a period of 18 years, and 5 billion by J&J over nine years.
It would thus be the most expensive ever granted by the pharmaceutical industry, the bulk of the funds paid to offset the enormous social costs caused by the opioid crisis, which is wreaking havoc even in the most remote corners of the United States. .
Without confirming the amount, the lawyers responsible for negotiations for the states confirmed on Tuesday that a national deal seemed within reach.
“We are very optimistic that the terms of an agreement can be published in the coming days,” they said in a statement.
The vigorous promotion, from the mid-1990s, of highly addictive pain medications is seen by many as the trigger for the opioid crisis, which has led to more than 500,000 overdose deaths in the United States over the past 20 years.
All links in the distribution chain – from large laboratories like Purdue, currently in default, Johnson & Johnson, Teva, Allergan or Endo, to major distributors, pharmacy networks and some doctors – have been sued, accused of having contributed to the trivialization of these drugs, long reserved for the treatment of the most serious diseases.
Having become addicted to these opiates prescribed by prescription, many patients then switched to powerful illicit derivatives – such as heroin or fentanyl – at the origin of numerous overdoses.
The US opioid crisis worsened during the pandemic, with more than 93,000 people dying of often opioid-related overdoses in 2020, according to statistics released last week.
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