The settlement — worth up to $4.25 billion — followed a series of blistering trials and previous settlements in individual cases across the country over the past year. Although much less well known, Teva, an Israeli company, and its subsidiaries produced far more prescription opioids during the peak years of the crisis than big-name opioid makers like Johnson & Johnson. Production of both generic and brand-name painkillers has reduced the output of Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, the drug directly linked to causing an avalanche of overdoses and deaths. Under the agreement, Teva would make payments over 13 years directed to state, local and tribal programs to alleviate the opioid crisis, which has only worsened during the coronavirus pandemic. The $4.25 billion total included the nearly $550 million in settlements the company had already made as trials began in San Francisco as well as Florida, West Virginia, Texas, Louisiana and Rhode Island. States and communities can choose to accept a portion of their payments in overdose reversal drugs, instead of cash.
Fentanyl Overdose: What You Need to Know
Card 1 of 5 Understand the effects of fentanyl. Fentanyl is a powerful and fast-acting drug, two properties that also make it highly addictive. A little goes a long way, so it’s easy to overdose. With fentanyl, there is only a short time to intervene and save a person’s life during an overdose. Stick to licensed pharmacies. Prescription drugs sold on the Internet or by unlicensed dealers marketed as OxyContin, Vicodin, and Xanax are often laced with fentanyl. Only take pills that have been prescribed by your doctor and come from an authorized pharmacy. Talk to your loved ones. The best way to prevent fentanyl use is to educate your loved ones, including teenagers, about it. Explain what fentanyl is and that it can be found in pills bought online or from friends. Aim to create an ongoing dialogue in short bursts rather than a long, formal conversation. Learn how to spot an overdose. When someone overdoses on fentanyl, breathing slows down and their skin often takes on a blue tint. If you think someone is overdosing, call 911 right away. If you are concerned that a loved one may be exposed to fentanyl, you may want to purchase naloxone, a drug that can quickly reverse an opioid overdose and is often available at local pharmacies without a medical prescription. The agreement was negotiated by representatives of about a dozen attorneys general. “Today’s announcement demonstrates once again that those responsible for this tragic issue will be held accountable and that help will be available to those affected by the opioid epidemic,” said Tom Miller, Iowa’s attorney general, whose office participated in the negotiations. a statement. Teva said in a statement, “While the settlement will not include an admission of wrongdoing, it remains in our best interest to put these cases behind us and continue to focus on the patients we serve every day.” People close to the talks said about 10 to 12 percent of the money would go toward fees for lawyers who, starting in 2013, brought the cases against the company. In 2016, Teva acquired Actavis, a generics unit of Allergan. For Teva’s settlement to be finalized, Allergan must also settle with those plaintiffs. Lawyers familiar with the negotiations said they expect that announcement to be made soon. The deal also depends on a supermajority of state, local and tribal governments voting in favor of it.
The opioid crisis
From powerful pharmaceuticals to illegal synthetics, opioids are fueling a deadly drug crisis in America.
Lawyers on an executive committee that negotiates for local governments urged everyone to support the hard-won agreement: “We encourage all of these groups to sign this agreement to allow these resources to get into the hands of those who need them as much as possible faster.” they said in a statement. While that outcome seems likely, one participating state, among the dozens that negotiated the terms, has yet to sign on: New York, along with Nassau and Suffolk counties, which prevailed against Teva in a civil jury trial in last December Under the shadow of a second phase of that trial to determine financial remedies, New York is still in talks with the company, a spokesman for the New York attorney general’s office said. Wringing an accepted offer from Teva has been a particularly protracted battle for the states, tribes and municipalities that have brought cases against it. While Purdue Pharma, for example, has often been associated with enhanced and misleading marketing of its brand-name drugs to doctors, generic drug makers do not formally make sales calls to them. Teva argued that it did not market its opioids to doctors. One of Teva’s initial settlement offers, in 2019, consisted almost entirely of drugs, along with a small amount of cash. While Johnson & Johnson and the three drug distributors that also participated in that early bid struck a deal two years later, Teva continued to dispute. But in December 2020, the Senate Finance Committee released findings that were highly critical of Teva, among other manufacturers, for the millions of dollars it paid to tax-exempt groups that lobbied lawmakers and others, pushing for greater patient access to pain medications . In the lawsuit, the plaintiffs said Teva, which built a dominant position in the generics market by buying smaller companies, had ignored red flags such as orders for oversized pills.
