Michigan could get $1.45B in opioid settlements: Which companies are paying the most
Just as it has across the nation, the opioids epidemic has wreaked havoc on Michigan.
And just as other states have done, Michigan has signed onto settlement agreements with opioid manufacturers and distributors, that will bring more than $1 billion to the state to deal with the epidemic — and to keep people from dying from overdoses.
That money is flowing into Michigan, and a large portion will ultimately go toward prevention, treatment and harm reduction programs.
How much is Michigan set to receive from these settlements, what is that money to be used for, and will it help people living with addiction?
Take a look:
How much money is Michigan getting from opioid settlements?
There are several different settlements to consider.
In the largest settlement so far, Michigan is receiving $776 million, its share of a $26 billion national settlement with pharmaceutical distributors AmerisourceBergen, McKesson Corp. and Cardinal Health and with manufacturer Janssen (its parent company is Johnson & Johnson).
The money will be paid out in increments over 18 years. Half of the $776 million will be paid to Michigan's local governments — a total of 269 counties, cities, townships. The state has said local governments would start receiving the money as early as the end of January, according to a statement by Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel. The other half will remain with state of Michigan to fund opioid abatement programs — treatment, education and prevention. The state Legislature, with input from an advisory committee on opioids, will decide where that money will go.
In another settlement, this time with McKinsey & Co, which marketed opioid medication, Michigan will receive an additional $19.5 million paid out in installments over five years. Three payments remain.
A settlement with Mallinckrodt Pharmaceutical will bring $37 million to Michigan. In a statement last year, Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said the company, one of the largest opioid makers in the country, expanded its market through certain doctors and pill mills. Details still have to be finalized on three other settlements:
Michigan is expecting about $122.8 million from Teva Pharmaceuticals, according to the Michigan Association of Counties. A division between local governments and the state has not yet been negotiated, according to Matt Walker, assistant attorney general for Michigan. The money would be paid out over 13 years.
Michigan is also expecting to receive about $73.1 million from Allergan Pharmaceuticals, according to the MAC. That money would be paid out over seven years.
And it is also expecting to receive roughly $161 million over 10 years from a settlement with the pharmacy CVS and up to $91 million from a settlement with Walmart. Walker said the settlement with Walmart could be paid out this year.
By the time these and other legal matters are settled, Michigan could receive $1.45 billion in funds, according to Nessel.
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Why are the pharma companies paying out? Isn't the opioid epidemic all about street drugs?
Opioid pain relievers, introduced in the mid-1990s, started the current opioid crisis, and were the gateway to addiction.
Easy access to the pain relievers created addicts. Users built up a tolerance to the drugs and needed more and more to dull their pain — or achieve their high. Doctors eventually began reducing the number of prescriptions they signed, and when pain relievers became difficult to get, or too expensive to use, drug users switched to a cheaper and more readily available opioid: heroin.
How did fentanyl arrive on the scene?
Drug dealers started stretching the heroin by mixing it with fentanyl, an ultra-potent, synthetic opioid. Fentanyl, which the Drug Enforcement Administration says is manufactured largely in Mexico with chemicals from China, is extremely inexpensive to make. Unlike with heroin, which is derived from the poppy plant, there is no harvest to organize, no crop that is dependent on weather. Fentanyl is made in labs.
Now, fentanyl is mixed in with just about every drug sold on the street, including cocaine and counterfeit pills.
Opioids, specifically fentanyl, are responsible for the majority of overdose deaths in the state and throughout the nation. In 2021, almost 107,000 people in the U.S., including more than 3,000 in Michigan, died from drug overdoses.
Who sued the pharma companies?
States and municipalities all over the country sued pharmaceutical manufacturers and distributors and others in the industry for promoting opioids, flooding the market with them and creating the opioid epidemic. Even governments that didn't sue were allowed to sign onto the settlements.
Because Michigan law makes it difficult to sue pharmaceutical companies, Nessel sued distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, McKesson Corp. and Walgreens under the state's drug dealer liability law.
To sign on to any settlement, Michigan and local governments need to drop their lawsuits.
What metrics were used to determine what Michigan gets from the $26 billion settlement?
According to Nessel, each state's share was determined using a formula that considered population, number of overdose deaths, number of residents with addiction and number of opioids prescribed.
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What will local counties receive from that particular settlement?
These are estimates for the amount of money that counties will receive from the settlement with Jansen and the pharmaceutical distributors, to be paid out in increments over 18 years.
Wayne County: $35.3 million
Macomb County: $27.7 million
Oakland County: $18.7 million
Genesee: $6.7 million
Washtenaw: $8.2 million
Monroe: $5.5 million
Livingston: $4.4 million
How is this money to be used?
It is to be used for opioid abatement. That means prevention and treatment of opioid addiction, including medication-assisted treatment, syringe exchange services, Narcan distribution, health care services for addicts and recovering addicts.
Will this help mitigate the opioid epidemic?
Here's what we know:
Medication-assisted treatment, which uses low level opioids such as buprenorphine and methadone or non-opioid naltrexone to soften withdrawal and reduce cravings for heroin or fentanyl or other opioids, is considered the gold standard in addiction treatment. One study of 17,586 Massachusetts drug users who survived an overdose showed that subsequent treatment with methadone or buprenorphine significantly reduced their risk of dying from another overdose.
Syringe exchange programs — which provide drug users with clean needles — prevent illnesses such as HIV and hepatitis C and endocarditis that come from using shared or dirty or old needles. Research also has shown people who use syringe programs are more likely to enter treatment for addiction than those who do not use needle programs.
Narcan, if used correctly and in a timely manner, can reverse an opioid overdose.
Contact Georgea Kovanis: gkovanis@freepress.com
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What to know about Michigan's opioid settlement money
