Florida reaches $878 million opioid settlements with CVS, Teva, others (updated)

Endo International

30/03/2022 15:18

(Adds settlement details, background, other settlements)
    By Jonathan Stempel and Dietrich Knauth
    March 30 (Reuters) - Florida has reached more than $878
million in settlements with CVS Health Corp  CVS.N  and three
drug companies to resolve claims and avert a trial next month
over their roles in fueling an opioid epidemic in the third most
populous U.S. state.
    CVS will pay $484 million, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries
Ltd  TEVA.TA  will pay $194.8 million, Abbvie Inc's  ABBV.N 
Allergan unit will pay $134.2 million and Endo International Plc
 ENDP.O  will pay $65 million, Florida's attorney general Ashley
Moody said in a statement on Wednesday.
    Most of the money will be spent on opioid abatement. Teva
will also provide $84 million of its generic Narcan nasal spray,
which can temporarily reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.
    All of the companies denied wrongdoing in agreeing to
settle. Endo's accord had been reached in January.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL4N2TY30Y
    Moody said the pharmacy chain Walgreens  WBA.N  is the only
remaining defendant in the state's opioid litigation, with jury
selection scheduled to begin on April 5. 
    Walgreens in a statement said its 2012 opioid-related
settlement with Florida covered the state's latest claims, and
that it will defend against "unjustified attacks" on its
pharmacists.
    CVS and Teva said they would defend against other lawsuits
relating to opioids. Teva also said it "continues to actively
negotiate a national settlement" of similar claims.
    Abbvie and Endo did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
    Florida announced the settlements nine days after Rhode
Island reached similar accords with Teva and Allergan that it
valued at $107 million.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL2N2VO206
    More than 500,000 people have died from opioid overdoses in
the past two decades, including 75,673 in the year ending April
2021, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention.
    On Feb. 25, Johnson & Johnson  JNJ.N  and drug distributors
AmerisourceBergen Corp  ABC.N , Cardinal Health Inc  CAH.N  and
McKesson Corp  MCK.N  reached final settlements worth $26
billion over their roles in the epidemic.  urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL1N2V01KR
    State, local and Native American tribal governments in the
United States have filed more than 3,300 lawsuits accusing
drugmakers such as OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma of fueling
opioid abuse, including by downplaying the risks of addiction.

 (Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Dietrich Knauth in New York;
Nate Raymond in Boston; Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware; and
Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Will
Dunham and Chizu Nomiyama)
 ((ankur.banerjee@thomsonreuters.com;; Mobile - +919008417318;
Twitter: @AnkurBanerjee17))