This archive report was first published on 21 October 2019.
On October 21, 2019, a landmark first federal opioid trial was set to begin in Cleveland, but the three major drug distributors and an opioid manufacturer reached a settlement worth at least $245 million to avoid it.
According to Judge Dan A. Polster of the Northern District of Ohio, the deal was struck around 1 a.m. The settlement includes McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen, which will pay $215 million to the two Ohio counties that brought the case.
Teva, the Israel-based manufacturer of generic drugs, is expected to pay at least $15 million in cash and donate $15 million worth of addiction treatment drugs. This settlement comes after a smaller distributor, Henry Schein Medical, agreed to contribute $1 million to a grant-making foundation focusing on alternatives for addressing pain and appropriate prescribing of opioids, and to pay $250,000 for the plaintiffs' legal fees.
While a broader settlement to resolve thousands of cases brought by local governments and states could be announced later in the day by state attorneys general, Judge Polster only confirmed the settlement of this first landmark trial.
