Walgreens pharmacy, Florida settle opioid costs lawsuit for $683M

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla — The Walgreens pharmacy chain has reached a $683 million settlement with the state of Florida in a lawsuit accusing the corporate of improperly dishing out tens of millions of painkillers that contributed to the opioid disaster, state officers stated Thursday.

State Lawyer Common Ashley Moody stated the deal was struck after 4 weeks of presidency proof was offered at trial. Walgreens was the twelfth and last defendant to settle with Florida, which can convey in additional than $3 billion for the state to sort out opioid dependancy and overdoses.

“We now go into battle armed and able to combat again arduous towards this artifical disaster,” Moody stated at a information convention in Tampa. “I’m glad that we have now been capable of finish this monumental litigation and transfer previous the courtroom.”

Walgreens, primarily based in Deerfield, Illinois, stated in a press release the corporate didn’t admit wrongdoing within the deal, throughout which $620 million shall be paid to the state over 18 years and a one-time sum of $63 million for legal professional charges. Walgreens operates greater than 9,000 shops in all 50 states, based on the corporate web site. About 820 of these places are in Florida.

OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma has a tentative nationwide deal that features $6 billion in money from members of the Sackler household who personal the corporate. In all, settlements, civil and prison penalties across the nation since 2007 have totaled over $45 billion, based on an Related Press tally.

The Florida case hinged on accusations that as Walgreens distributed greater than 4.3 billion complete opioid drugs in Florida from Might 2006 to June 2021, greater than half contained a number of simply acknowledged purple flags for abuse, fraud and dependancy that the corporate ought to have seen and acted upon.

The opioid epidemic has been linked to greater than 500,000 deaths within the U.S. over the previous 20 years, counting these from prescription painkillers akin to OxyContin and generic oxycodone in addition to illicit medicine akin to heroin and illegally produced fentanyl.

In the identical case, CVS Well being Corp. and CVS Pharmacy Inc. agreed to pay the state $484 million. Teva Prescription drugs Industries Ltd. agreed to pay $195 million and Allergan PLC greater than $134 million.

Florida has beforehand obtained tens of millions of {dollars} in opioid settlements involving McKesson Corp., Cardinal Well being Inc., Johnson & Johnson Inc. and AmerisourceBergen Corp.