Opioid Settlement Story Archives - Page 6 of 8 - West Virginia Public Broadcasting

W.Va. Settles Two Opioid Pharmacy Chain Distribution Lawsuits

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey announced Tuesday afternoon that settlements have been reached with Walmart and CVS pharmacies before a scheduled opioid distribution trial.

Morrisey said the combined settlement amount with the two national pharmacy chains adds up to a minimum of $147.5 million.

“These settlements won’t bring back the lives lost from the opioid epidemic, but these and other settlements will hopefully provide significant help to those affected the most by this crisis in our state,” Morrisey said. “This development also avoided a costly and lengthy trial and at the end of the day, West Virginia will have the highest per capita settlement results in the nation fighting for our people.”

Walmart agreed to a settlement of $65 million; CVS for $82.5 million. The CVS deal comes with a guarantee that West Virginia won’t be prejudiced by a future national settlement.

The two companies are part of a larger trial involving other major pharmacies. Litigation against the remaining pharmacy defendants, Walgreens and Kroger, continues before the Mass Litigation Panel with a trial date on June 5, 2023.

The money from all opioid settlements will be distributed under the terms of the West Virginia First Memorandum of Understanding. Announced in mid-February, the MOU is an agreement with the state on how future settlement dollars would be used to abate the opioid crisis throughout the state. It contains a comprehensive plan to use those funds to abate the massive problems caused by the flood of opioids into West Virginia. Morrisey noted that 99.6 percent of all government entities (counties, cities and towns) had signed on to the MOU.

W.Va. Attorney General Says He Is 'Aggressive' In Opioid Lawsuits

West Virginia continues to lead the nation in per capita opioid litigation settlements and more may be on the way according to Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

West Virginia continues to lead the nation in per capita opioid litigation settlements and more settlements may be on the way.

In an online briefing Tuesday from the Eastern Panhandle, West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey said a September 26th trial date is now set for Putnam County opioid cases involving Walmart, CVS and Walgreen pharmacies.

“We’re getting ready for trial,” Morrisey said. “We just had a trial and there were three settlements that came out. Two of the companies we settled with on the very last day before trial.”

West Virginia has now agreed to more than $300 million in settlements with pharmaceutical companies.

Morrisey said West Virginia will continue to reject the larger state population-based formula for settlement amounts.

“We think that this problem needs to be addressed based on the intensity of the epidemic,” Morrisey said. “And certainly, it was felt most acutely in West Virginia.”

Morrisey said he’s taking a more aggressive stance in working to obtain documents from Kroger as the state prepares for an opioid trial with that supermarket chain’s pharmacies.

He said if people know someone in need of assistance, reach out to the West Virginia First Foundation, which will receive monies from the settlement to help those recovering from substance use addiction.

Federal Judges Are Asked To Pave Way For Purdue Pharma Deal

Updated on Friday, April 29, 2022 at 1:21 p.m. Lawyers for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and many of those who had claims against the company over the toll of opioids joined together Friday to urge a federal judicial panel to advance a plan that would settle lawsuits across the country.

Updated on Friday, April 29, 2022 at 1:21 p.m.

Lawyers for OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma and many of those who had claims against the company over the toll of opioids joined together Friday to urge a federal judicial panel to advance a plan that would settle lawsuits across the country.

The legal question facing the judges from the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York: Does a bankruptcy judge have the authority to grant members of the Sackler family who own the company protection from civil lawsuits over the toll of opioids?

Sackler family members have insisted on the legal shield in exchange for providing the money behind the proposed settlement. And as their offer was boosted over more than two years of negotiations and mediation, most of the parties came to support the deal — including all the states.

But the U.S. Bankruptcy Trustee’s Office, an arm of the Justice Department, has continued pushing back, asserting it’s improper to provide a legal shield for members of the wealthy family who have not themselves filed for bankruptcy protection.

“A non-debtor says: ‘I can get the benefit of a discharge but I don’t need to comply with any of the rules of the bankruptcy code and I don’t need to contribute all of my assets,’” Michael Shih, a lawyer for the office, told a three-judge panel of the 2nd Circuit in a hearing Friday in New York City. “That’s the fundamental inconsistency here.”

Lawyers for Purdue and others who support the settlement said that the protections for Sackler family members would be limited to cases involving opioids and are needed to get a fair outcome, rather than seeing the fight continue through many trials all over the country.

“The releases at issue are not only important to the plan, they are absolutely essential,” said Mitchell Hurley, a lawyer for the official committee of unsecured creditors in Purdue’s bankruptcy case told the judges.

Purdue lawyer Marshall Huebner pointed out that unlike other parties, the Bankruptcy Trustee’s office and federal government are not in line to receive any money from the settlement. He told the judges that allowing lawsuits against the Sacklers to move forward might not result in more money to fight the opioid crisis — in part because most of the family’s wealth is in trusts, much of it overseas.

“We are bringing in billions and billions of dollars to save lives,” Huebner told the court.

All three judges asked pointed questions on the positions of both Huebner and Shih.

The 2nd Circuit judges did not indicate when they would rule, but it often takes weeks or months after a hearing.

No matter how the 2nd Circuit rules on the case, an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court is possible. If Purdue and its allies win, they still must go back to the bankruptcy judge to get the latest version of the deal approved.

Under the planned deal, Sackler family members would contribute $5.5 billion to $6 billion over time, plus give up ownership of the company. Purdue would then become a new entity known as Knoa Pharma that would dedicate its profits to fighting the nation’s opioid epidemic.

Most of the Sacklers’ money also would go to fighting the epidemic, but at least $750 million would be distributed to some individual victims and their families.

Other product-liability cases have been settled through bankruptcy court by using the sort of protections this deal would give the Sacklers. But opponents of the settlement are challenging the strategy based on the fact that a handful of parties still object to the deal.

Almost all the governments and other entities that originally sued Purdue have agreed to the settlement. Besides the bankruptcy trustee, the only official objectors left are Canadian local governments and First Nations, and two mothers of sons who died of opioid overdoses.

This week, more than 1,000 families who have lost loved ones to overdoses sent a letter asking the U.S. Justice Department to drop its opposition. They said individual victims would not receive payments if the settlement is derailed.

“Moreover, if this plan is not implemented, the states would have to wait years to recover money to be used for abating the opioid crisis,” their letter said. “With drug overdoses occurring at record rates, that is time we cannot afford.”

The federal judge overseeing Purdue’s bankruptcy case approved a settlement last year that was later rejected on an appeal brought primarily by attorneys general for eight states and the District of Columbia. The sides then went to mediation that ultimately persuaded the Sacklers to increase their contribution by more than $1 billion.

Purdue is perhaps the highest-profile player in the opioid industry. But several other drugmakers, distribution companies and pharmacies also have been sued by state and local governments. While a handful of cases have gone to trial, many also are being settled.

Earlier this year, drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and distribution giants AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson finalized deals to provide a total of $26 billion. Most of the money is required to be used to fight the opioid crisis, which has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the last two decades.

Epidemiologist: Drug Supply Fueled W.Va. Crisis Over Poverty

The West Virginia trial began last week and is expected to last up to two months. State and local governments, Native American tribes, unions, hospitals and other entities have filed more than 3,000 lawsuits involving the opioid epidemic in state and federal courts.

The influx of prescription opioids into West Virginia communities was the main driver of the state’s drug crisis — more than poverty, job loss and other economic stressors, an epidemiologist testified Tuesday at the ongoing trial against three major pharmaceutical companies.

“The economic conditions were the kindling, but the opioid suppliers were the gasoline that was poured directly on that kindling,” said Dr. Katherine Keyes, director of Columbia University’s Psychiatric Epidemiology Training Program.

Keyes was questioned on the stand all day Tuesday in the state’s bench trial against Johnson & Johnson subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc., Teva Pharmaceuticals Inc., AbbVie Inc.’s Allergan and their family of companies.

Most allege the industry created a public nuisance in a crisis that has been linked to the deaths of 500,000 Americans over the past two decades.

A trial opened Monday in Florida’s opioid epidemic lawsuit against the Walgreens pharmacy chain, which state officials accuse of prioritizing profits over health by improperly dispensing millions of powerful painkillers that caused tens of thousands of deaths. Closing arguments are expected this week for an opioid-related trial in Washington.

Keyes described West Virginia, one of the poorest U.S. states, as the “epicenter of the opioid crisis in the U.S.” More people have died of overdoses in the state per capita than any other, all while the state has been grappling with a loss of jobs from the declining coal industry. West Virginia was one of the only U.S. states to lose population during the 2020 U.S. census.

But while she said there is a relationship between poverty and unemployment and drug deaths, the number of prescription drugs present in communities makes a much greater impact.

“Economic factors certainly are important and certainly play a role and we should be paying attention to those, but the opioid supply is by far the predominant risk factor,” she said.

Keyes said she’d cited at least 400 scientific papers in her research preparing for trial. One 2021 study reviewing opioid shipments to retail pharmacies across the country showed that Mingo County, West Virginia, had the highest rate of per capita pill volume in the country in 2008. The county saw an influx of 372 pills per capita, compared with a population-weighted national average of around 35.

Lawyers representing the pharmaceutical companies said West Virginia has greater rates of prescription drug use across the board. They also said there are higher rates of individuals who are diagnosed with chronic pain conditions in the state compared with the national average, a statistic likely related to the higher number of people working jobs that require manual labor.

During her testimony, Keyes said that the wave of prescription opioids drove a tsunami of drug dependence and prescription opioid-related overdose deaths. As the number of people being prescribed opioids decreased, people turned to heroin and fentanyl.

Explainer: Where Do US Opioid Trials, Settlements Stand?

Three trials are underway now, in Florida, West Virginia and Washington state. New legal settlements are being reached practically every week to provide governments money to fight the crisis and in some cases funds for medicines to reverse overdoses or to help with treatment.

The effort to hold drug companies, pharmacies and distributors accountable for their role in the opioid crisis has led to a whirlwind of legal activity around the U.S. that can be difficult keep tabs on.

In all, more than 3,000 lawsuits have been filed by state and local governments, Native American tribes, unions, hospitals and other entities in state and federal courts over the toll of opioids. Most allege the industry created a public nuisance in a crisis that has been linked to the deaths of 500,000 Americans over the past two decades.

Collectively, businesses already have faced settlements, judgements and civil and criminal penalties totaling more than $47 billion. The main entities targeted are the companies that manufactured and sold the pills; the businesses that distributed them; and the pharmacies that dispensed them.

Here’s an overview of the litigation and settlements involving the various companies:

Purdue Pharma

Purdue is the maker of OxyContin, an extended-release version of oxycodone that packed higher doses into pills. The drug, released in 1996, became a heavily marketed blockbuster drug — and is associated closely with the epidemic’s first wave.

Like other opioids, it was promoted not just for post-surgery and cancer pain but for chronic pain — an area where doctors previously were reluctant to prescribe such powerful drugs.

Faced with thousands of lawsuits, the company went into bankruptcy protection in 2019 to help reach a settlement.

A deal is now in place, but it’s not final.

It calls for members of the Sackler family who own the company to give up their stakes, making way for it to become a new entity — to be known as Knoa Pharma — with profits funding the fight against the opioid crisis. Additionally, family members are to pay $5.5 billion to $6 billion over time, with a portion of the money going to victims.

Earlier this year, three members of the family attended an online hearing in which parents described losing children to addictions that started with OxyContin, and people recovering from addictions described their journeys.

As part of the exchange, Sackler family members would get protection from lawsuits over opioids.

For the settlement to be finalized, a higher court must overturn a judge’s ruling that threw out an earlier version of the deal. A hearing on that is scheduled for April 29 before the U.S. 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals.

In the meantime, activists and some U.S. senators are asking the Justice Department to consider charges against family members.

Other Drugmakers

In a major court victory for drugmakers last year, a California judge ruled against some local governments in their case against pharmaceutical companies Johnson & Johnson, Endo International and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries.

Some of those drugmakers — Johnson & Johnson, Allergan and Teva — are now on trial in West Virginia.

But companies have largely been settling suits.

Mallinckrodt, which was a leading producer of generic oxycodone, also used bankruptcy court to reach a settlement, agreeing to a $1.6 billion nationwide deal in 2020.

Johnson & Johnson has agreed to a $5 billion nationwide settlement. It was announced alongside a separate settlement involving the three biggest drug wholesalers. The company’s Janssen subsidiary stopped selling its fentanyl patches and pain pills in the U.S. in 2020. J&J was also the first drugmaker to be held liable for the opioid crisis in a trial, though the Oklahoma Supreme Court later overturned the ruling.

Endo made the opioid Opana, which was eventually removed from the market. The company has been reaching individual settlements with states. Deals since last year with Florida, New York, Texas, West Virginia and some district attorneys in Tennessee have totaled well over $200 million.

Late last year, a New York jury found Teva partly responsible for the state’s opioid crisis through its marketing of the fentanyl drugs Actiq and Fentora. Most of the other companies the state and two counties sued settled before or during a trial last year. A separate trial is to be held to determine damages.

Since the New York trial, Teva has reached settlements with Texas, Florida and Rhode Island totaling more than $250 million. It will also provide drugs to reverse overdoses and treat addictions.

Allergan, now a subsidiary of AbbVie, has been settling suits involving the extended-release morphine pill Kadian. It reached one major settlement with New York last year. Since then, it has been part of the multi-company settlements in Florida and Rhode Island.

Executives from drugmaker Insys were convicted in 2019 of bribing doctors across the U.S. to prescribe their sublingual fentanyl spray Subsys. Company founder John Kapoor was sentenced to 5 1/2 years in federal prison.

The company also paid $225 million to resolve federal investigations into allegations that it paid kickbacks and used other illegal marketing tactics.

Distribution Companies

The three big national companies — AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson — finalized their settlement, worth a total of $21 billion over 18 years, in February.

The deal, combined with Johnson & Johnson’s, is expected to be the single biggest settlement between companies in the drug industry and governments.

The total amounts include separate settlements covering all federally recognized Native American tribes.

With settlement money starting to flow to state and local governments, officials are figuring out how to prioritize it. The funds are arriving at a precarious time: The number of U.S. overdose deaths from all drugs topped 100,000 in a 12-month period for the first time last year. The majority of those deaths are from opioids — and particularly illicit synthetic versions including fentanyl.

Unlike the tobacco settlements of the 1990s, there are safeguards intended to steer most of the opioid settlement funds to addressing the crisis. Public health experts have ideas for how to do that, but the decisions are up to government officials.

The distribution companies also went to trial last year in West Virginia. A judge has not yet ruled.

Closing arguments in Washington state’s trial against the distributors are expected this week.

Pharmacies

Pharmacy chains have been sued less often than companies that make or distribute opioids. In one groundbreaking case, a federal jury in Ohio last year found CVS, Walgreens and Walmart recklessly distributed massive amounts of pain pills in Lake and Trumbull counties.

Late last month, CVS settled in Florida. That left Walgreens to go to trial Monday.

Consulting Company

Global consulting firm McKinsey & Company also reached deals last year with the states, Washington, D.C., and U.S. territories for advising businesses on how to sell more prescription opioids amid the overdose crisis. Those settlements totaled more than $600 million.

A group of U.S. senators is pushing for a federal investigation, saying there were conflicts when the company consulted on opioid-related issues both for companies and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

AG: W. Va. Won’t Opt Into $26 Billion Opioid Settlement

Several state attorneys general are in favor of a $26 billion opioid settlement against three of the nation’s largest drug distributors and opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson. It would put an end to thousands of lawsuits.

But West Virginia will opt out in hopes of local governments being able to pursue lawsuits on their own, the attorney general said Wednesday.

“West Virginia is a resounding ‘no’ on these agreements and will continue to litigate and negotiate outside the framework of today’s announcement,” said Attorney General Patrick Morrisey.

The state previously settled with all three drug distributors (McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health) for a total of more than $70 million. That means the state wouldn’t be eligible for these companies’ portion of the settlement anyway.

The state does have an active case against opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson.

In the settlements with the distributors, the state left local governments out of the mix, so they could pursue these entities on their own.

“We have expressly carved the counties and municipalities out and positioned them and our Office to maximize a recovery that is based upon the severity of the harm imposed on West Virginians,” Morrisey said.

Cabell County and Huntington are near the end of a trial against the three big drug distributors. Closing arguments take place this Tuesday and Wednesday at a federal court in Charleston.

Morrisey also contends that these large settlement packages should be allocated based on the severity of the affected area and not on population alone. He cited those reasons for opting out of the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy plan as it stands.