The settlement, which was announced on Tuesday, allows the three drug suppliers McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen to withdraw from an ongoing lawsuit in the state – in exchange for paying a sum of 1.18 billion dollars, which is equivalent to 10.6 billion kroner.
Previously, the pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson also entered into a settlement with the state and dropped the lawsuit.
Local authorities state that a major lawsuit against all four companies mentioned is about to end with a settlement worth as much as 26 billion dollars. The agreement allegedly means that Johnson & Johnson will stop producing opioids for ten years.
Aggressive marketing of highly addictive painkillers has been seen by many as triggering the opioid crisis in the United States, which has led to more overdose deaths than traffic accidents in the country.
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