CVS Health and Walgreens on Wednesday confirmed an agreement “in principle” to pay roughly $10 billion to states, cities and Native American tribes to settle all opioid lawsuits pending against two of the nation’s largest retail pharmacies.
The proposed settlement, which has not yet been finalized, does not represent any admission of wrongdoing by either company, The Washington Post reported.
As per the proposed deal, CVS would pay $4.9 billion to states and municipalities and $130 million to tribes over the next 10 years starting in 2023. Meanwhile, Walgreens confirmed that it has offered to pay nearly $4.8 billion to states over 15 years and about $155 million to tribes, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Each state, local government and tribe must decide individually whether to participate in the settlement, the newspaper reported.
According to U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data, hundreds of thousands of thousands of people have died from drug overdoses in the past two decades, the Post reported, noting that CVS and Walgreens are only two of several drugstore chains and drugmakers facing “extensive lawsuits and backlash for allegedly worsening the opioid epidemic.”
Meanwhile, Bloomberg confirmed Monday that Walmart has reached a $3 billion settlement to settle similar lawsuits.
As per the Journal: “Widespread opioid abuse has claimed more than half a million lives and triggered more than 3,000 lawsuits by governments, hospitals and others against players in the pharmaceutical industry, including manufacturers, distributors and drugstores.”
In August, a federal judge ordered CVS, Walgreens and Walmart to pay a collective $650.5 million to two Ohio counties, saying the companies are accountable for their part in fueling the opioid epidemic in the area.
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