On Monday, two Ohio counties and four drug companies reached a tentative settlement of roughly $260 million at the eleventh hour to avoid an opioid trial.
The deal involves Summit and Cuyahoga counties, along with defendants AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, McKesson, and Teva Pharmaceuticals. Distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson have vouched to pay $215 million, whereas manufacturer Teva Pharmaceuticals will pay $20 million in cash, also an additional $25 million for addiction and overdose treatment. Post the settlement announcement, Walgreens is the only defendant for the Ohio trial.
The settlement will only end the lawsuits brought by Summit and Cuyahoga counties. There are still thousands of lawsuits filed by the city, county, and tribal representatives alleging the distributors and manufacturers for fuelling the opioid crisis.
Meanwhile, in a meeting held in Cleveland, attorneys general from four states North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas, along with the drug companies, are trying to close the deal, which can be worth $48 billion in cash to settle opioid cases nationally.
U.S. District Judge Dan Polster is presiding over the opioid lawsuits consolidated under MDL No. 2804 (In Re: National Prescription Opiate Litigation), centralized by JPML last year, in the Northern District of Ohio, to aid coordinated discovery and pretrial proceedings.
Earlier Ohio attorney general and drug companies requested to impede an upcoming opioid trial accusing drugmakers of fueling the opioid crisis. The appeal was rejected by the Sixt Circuit. Mike DeWine who is Ohio’s governor opposed the bid from the attorney general stating that he would refuse any legislation that gives control over the counties’ suit, as the opioid epidemic has impacted the local governments.
