A landmark federal trial is underway in Cleveland, OH with several of the nation’s top pharmaceutical companies facing litigation on the grounds that they fueled the opioid addiction that has devastated so many communities across the country. But some of those firms chose to settle before the trial began. AmerisourceBergen, McKesson, Cardinal Health and Teva Pharmaceuticals reached a $260 million opioid settlement with two Ohio counties.
The settlement does not end the legal proceedings. Drugmakers from Johnson & Johnson to Walgreens to CVS were unable to come to terms and this is all part of a massive legal consolidation that has put Cleveland at the center of the legal world. Over 2,300 lawsuits, coming from state and local governments, were streamlined and all put into this single civil trial.
Dan Polster is a federal district judge and is overseeing the trial. Judge Polster has taken an active role in encouraging settlements to take place so that the money might get to addict victims quicker.
The pharmaceutical industry saw Polster’s settlement push as a sign of bias and sought to have him removed. Polster disagreed, saying “…publicly acknowledging the toll of the opioid epidemic does not suggest I am biased; it shows that I am human.” Polster further rejected industry claims that media coverage was too pervasive to allow for an unbiased jury.
The lawsuit stems from a belief that the pharmaceutical giants fueled the addiction crisis to increase their own profit margins. Opioids are a painkiller that had previously been prescribed only in extreme circumstances. An active push was made by the industry to make them more commonly available and to downplay their addictive nature.
The results were disastrous. As addiction soared, tremendous financial pressure was placed on the resources of recovery programs run by state and local governments, as well as non-profit organizations. As those who suffered addiction became unemployable, people were transformed from taxpayers to those in need is public assistance programs.
State and local governments are seeking financial redress for those costs. For example, Teva agreed to pay out $20 million in direct cash benefits over the next 2 years and will also donate $25 million worth of Suboxone, which is used to treat opioid addiction.
Cuyahoga and Summit Counties in Ohio are the current plaintiffs, but every state will ultimately be impacted and the debate certainly isn’t going to end with a settlement. Attorney generals differ on how high the settlement figure has to be. Within each state, there is already in-fighting starting between local government and the state legislature as to how settlement monies are to be divvied up.
But at the very least, money is moving towards those who need help. “The settlement does not bring things to an end,” Cuyahoga County Executive Armond Budish said. “It is, though, a very good development for the people of our counties.”