Arizona Agrees to a $549 Million Opioid Settlement
The Arizona Attorney General’s Office has signed a tentative agreement that could allocate $549 million to the state for curbing the long-term impacts of the nation’s deadly opioid epidemic.
Johnson & Johnson, Cardinal Health, McKesson Pharmaceutical, and AmerisourceBergen — all distributors or manufacturers of opioid pills — are preparing to pay out a $26 billion settlement to resolve lawsuits filed by Arizona and other states harmed by the country’s growing number of opioid-related overdoses reported in recent years.
In 2017, Arizona declared a public health emergency after the state saw its number of opioid-related deaths soar by 75% over a five-year period.
The crisis resulted in several pieces of litigation getting filed against the pharmaceutical companies that were blamed for peddling pills on vulnerable patients.
