The nation's 3 largest opioid distributors and 2 opioid manufacturers are in talks to settle the more than 2,000 lawsuits against them over their role in the opioid epidemic for $50B.
McKesson, Cardinal Health and Amerisource Bergen Corporation, which dominate U.S. pharmaceutical distribution, played the role of taking the drugs from the manufacturers and getting them to thousands of pharmacies, hospitals, long term care facilities and other healthcare providers nationwide.
The companies, along with the drug manufacturers, have been blamed by the plaintiff governments for sustaining the opioid epidemic. In particular, the lawsuits claim the distributors did not stop"suspicious orders" of large amounts of opioids even when there were large fluctuations in order size. Instead, the plaintiffs allege, the companies looked the other way.
The opioid epidemic has killed more than 400,000 Americans and cost the United States more than $504 billion, according to aby the White House Council of Economic Advisers. The lawsuits, in which plaintiffs seek billions in damages, were consolidated in a federal courtroom in Cleveland, Ohio. The states filed their claims in state courts but are at the negotiating table in an effort to achieve global settlements for all of the claims.
Spokespeople for McKesson and Amerisource Bergen did not respond to a request for comment. Cardinal Health declined to comment, but addressed the lawsuits in a previous statement to NBC News:"Cardinal Health cares deeply about the opioid epidemic and shares the judgment of top policymakers and many others that too many prescriptions have been written for too many opioid pills over the past decade. We take seriously our commitment ... to find and support solutions to this national challenge.
Cardinal and the other drug distributor defendants filed a joint motion to dismiss the suit filed by the state of Ohio, which contains allegations similar to those in suits filed in dozens of other states, all of which are part of the potential settlement agreement.
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