Pharmacy chain CVS and pharmaceutical companies will pay Florida a combined $860 million as part of a settlement in a case related to the U.S. opioid epidemic, authorities said Wednesday.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody announced that CVS Health Corp. and CVS Pharmacy Inc. will pay $484 million. The pharmaceutical companies Teva Pharmaceuticals Industries Ltd will pay 195 million and Allergan PLC more than 134 million.
Another company, Endo Health Solutions, will pay 65 million.
In addition to that, Tevan will give Florida supplies of its Narcan overdose antidote worth $84 million.
“The opioid epidemic is wreaking havoc on Florida families,” Moody said in a press release.
“The funds obtained from CVS, Teva, Allergan and Endo will help in our efforts to alleviate the damage and suffering of Floridians,” he added.
The CVS money, Moody said, will be divided among Florida cities and counties hit by the opioid overdose crisis a decade ago. The funds must be used to deal with the opioid crisis.
More than 500,000 deaths in the United States in the past two decades are attributed to the opioid epidemic, including from prescription painkillers like OxyContin, generic substances like oxycodone, and illegal drugs like heroin and fentanyl.
In the 2010s, several state and local governments filed hundreds of lawsuits against the companies that manufacture and distribute these drugs. Some cases have gone to trial, but others have been settled through compensation payments.
The settlement in Florida leaves Walgreens Co. as the only company charged in a lawsuit set to go to trial April 5 in Pasco County. Florida had previously received millions of dollars in compensation from McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., Johnson & Johnson Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp.
Purdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, has reached a tentative national settlement for $6 billion in cash to be paid by the Sackler family, which owns the company. The companies Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson have achieved deals totaling $26 billion.
In total, civil and criminal settlements and penalties since 2007 have totaled more than $45 billion, according to an Associated Press count.
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