Opiate Crisis: Three US Drug Companies Trying to Settle for $18 Billion

AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health are accused of deliberately pushing the potentially fatal addiction to opioids.

Opioids

The Wall Street Journal in their October 15^th edition reported that three US drug companies are negotiating an agreement worth $18 billion to be paid over 18 years to close their opioid crisis lawsuits.

The three groups – McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health – are facing lawsuits from the states and hundreds of US municipalities and counties for deliberately feeding on the potentially fatal opioid dependence that has caused a serious health crisis in the US in recent years.

400,000 deaths between 1999 and 2017

The legendary health group Johnson & Johnson is also involved in discussions to provide an additional amount to the settlement, according to Wall Street Journal. Johnson & Johnson was sentenced on August 29 to pay $570 million to the state of Oklahoma for introducing misleading marketing and advertising practices for opioids. The state estimated that the cost of eliminating the healthcare crisis caused by dependencies and overdoses would be $17 billion over the next 30 years. The company has announced that it will appeal. According to Caleb Alexander, a Johns Hopkins University expert quoted in the Ohio case, the national response to this crisis could reach $453 billion over the next ten years. Excessive consumption of opiates led to 400,000 deaths between 1999 and 2017.

If this deal is successful, it could affect or delay the lawsuit, even if the jury’s selection had not yet begun on Wednesday, the Wall Street Journal reported. Nearly 2,000 complaints were filed against opiate manufacturers in several counties in the United States.

References

• https://www.wsj.com/articles/drug-distributors-in-talks-to-settle-opioid-litigation-for-18-billion-11571170730
• https://www.npr.org/2019/10/15/770479020/3-major-drug-distributors-reportedly-negotiating-18b-opioid-settlement