Four large drug companies reached a last-minute $260 million legal settlement on Monday over their role in the U.S. opioid addiction epidemic, striking a deal with two Ohio counties to avert the first federal trial over the crisis.
However, drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson and drugmaker Teva Pharmaceutical fell short of a wider deal worth tens of billions of dollars to end all opioid litigation against them.
The distributors, which handle around 90% of U.S. prescription drugs, will pay a combined $215 million immediately. Israel-based drugmaker Teva is paying $20 million in cash and will contribute $25 million worth of Suboxone, an opioid addiction treatment, according to Hunter Shkolnik, an attorney for the counties.
The settlement, if extrapolated to nationwide deal resolving all litigation for the four defendants, suggests a settlement value of around $48 billion, based on a court-approved allocation formula.