Four Drug Companies Reach Last-Minute Settlement in Opioid Litigation--Update
October 21 2019 - 8:21AM
Dow Jones News
By Sara Randazzo
CLEVELAND -- Four drug companies have reached a settlement at
the last minute to avoid a trial here seeking to blame them for
fueling the opioid crisis, according to people familiar with the
matter.
Details of the settlements with McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health
Inc., AmerisourceBergen Corp. and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Ltd. will be announced Monday morning, the people said. A fifth
defendant, Walgreens Boots Alliance, hadn't yet reached a deal
Monday morning, making it unclear if a trial would proceed against
just them.
The settlements with two Ohio counties put off the federal jury
trial for the companies but fall short of a more comprehensive deal
currently being negotiated to resolve thousands of opioid lawsuits
nationwide.
The cases of Ohio's Cuyahoga and Summit counties had been
selected to go to trial first from more than 2,300 opioid lawsuits
brought in federal court by local municipalities, hospitals, Native
American tribes and others that are consolidated before U.S.
District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland.
The lawsuits broadly allege the pharmaceutical industry pushed
opioid painkillers for widespread use without adequately warning of
the risks of addiction and allowed high volumes of pills to flood
into communities.
The five companies were the last left for the trial after
several other drug makers settled with the two counties in recent
weeks.
The Ohio trial was expected to be closely watched as a benchmark
for how the broader opioid litigation could be resolved. Virtually
every state, along with thousands of local governments, have sued
the pharmaceutical industry seeking to recover money to help
address the impact of the opioid crisis.
At least 400,000 people have died in the U.S. from overdoses of
legal and illegal opioids since 1999, according to federal
data.
Write to Sara Randazzo at sara.randazzo@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 21, 2019 08:06 ET (12:06 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2019 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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