Opioid settlements with CVS, Walmart, Walgreens and others could give NJ $508 million
New Jersey's attorney general has signed off on settlements with pharmacy chains CVS, Walmart and Walgreens and drugmakers Allergan and Teva Pharmaceuticals for their roles in the opioid crisis that could bring the state as much as $508 million to fight addiction and its effects.
The multi-state settlements total $20 billion nationwide.
For it to take effect, however, "a significant number of states and counties and municipalities nationwide" must agree to the settlement terms, a result that won't be known for at least a few months, according to a statement Tuesday from Attorney General Matt Platkin's office.
A majority of the settlement money is designated for prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recovery services, the statement said.
The state has agreed to each of the five settlements, which require the companies to change their business practices and make financial amends. If New Jersey receives the maximum, the payments — spread out through 2038 — would total $143 million from Walgreens, $131.5 million from CVS, $99.8 million from Teva, $74.4 million from Walmart, and $59.4 million from Allergan.
"The devastation caused by the opioid addiction crisis cannot be measured in dollars and cents," Platkin said. "No amount of money can undo the pain and suffering it has wrought." But by holding the companies accountable and forcing them to change the way they do business, the statement said, such a crisis can be avoided in the future.
New Jersey had 2,647 suspected drug-related deaths in the first 11 months of last year, and more than 14,000 occasions when the overdose-reversal drug naloxone was administered, the Attorney General's Office said. More than 3,000 people died of drug overdoses in each of the two previous years. In the first week of 2023, there were 54 suspected drug deaths reported, according to the Office of the Chief State Medical Examiner.
The agreements announced Tuesday are similar to those reached last year with Johnson & Johnson, based in New Brunswick, and three distributors: AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson. As a result of those agreements, the state, all 21 counties and 241 municipalities share $641 million to be paid through 2038.
The new settlements with the pharmacy chains resolve allegations in various lawsuits that they ignored red flags that prescriptions were being diverted into illegal trafficking. The pharmacies have agreed to court orders that will require them to monitor, report and share data about suspicious activity related to opioid prescriptions.
The settlements with Teva, headquartered in Israel, and Allergan, an Ireland-based company that sold its generics portfolio to Teva in 2016, resolve allegations that the drugmakers overstated the painkillers' benefits, downplayed the risk of addiction, and didn't control for their products' misuse. Teva makes Actiq and Fentora, which are fentanyl products for cancer pain, as well as generic oxycodone. Allergan made generic opioids and Norco- and Kadian-branded opioids.
Last year, New Jersey also joined multistate agreements with Mallinckrodt PLC, a global pharmaceutical company, that is expected to bring the state $30 million, and Endo International, an opioid maker, for an undetermined share of $450 million.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: NJ joins $20B opioid settlements with pharmacy chains, drugmakers
