CVS, Walgreens, Walmart Opioid Settlement May Send More Money To WI

WISCONSIN — More money to fund opioid overdose prevention programs will soon be headed to Wisconsin under a tentative agreement Wednesday with CVS and Walgreens to pay about $10 billion to local, state and tribal governments to resolve thousands of lawsuits claiming their pharmacies mishandled prescriptions for opioid painkillers.

Walmart is still negotiating its deal, but Reuters reported the settlement under discussion was in the $4 billion range.

A majority of plaintiffs still must approve the settlements. Walgreens and CVS both agreed to pay about $5 billion each, and Walmart agreed to pay about $3.1 billion, Reuters and The New York Times reported.

The tentative agreements reached Wednesday could be the last after years of litigation over the drug industry’s role in the opioid overdose crisis that has been linked to more than 500,000 U.S. deaths since 1999, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

Provisional CDC data for 2021 shows opioid overdose deaths increased from an estimated 70,029 in 2020 to 80,816 in 2021. Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine also continued to increase from 2020 to 2021.

More than 1700 people in Wisconsin died of drug overdoses in from May 2021 to May 2022, according to the CDC, for an increase of 7.8 percent. Importantly, the data isn’t sorted by type of drug, but the CDC has said that 82 percent of overdose deaths involve synthetic opioids.

Large prescription opioid manufacturers and the three major drug distribution companies have already settled the lawsuits against them, but retail pharmacies have been slow to strike a deal with the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs argued the pharmacies should have flagged inappropriate prescriptions.

Officials in Wisconsin have announced multiple rounds of opioid settlements in 2022. In February, the Attorney General's office announced an over $400 million settlement with Johnson & Johnson and other drug distributers. Of those funds, 30 percent will go to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services for opioid abatement. Seventy percent of the funds will go to litigating political subdivisions.

The settlement in July also required Johnson & Johnson to stop selling opioids and to largely not lobby in relation to opioids.

Officials in several states including Wisconsin also reached an agreement with opioid-maker Teva in July which would provide $1.2 billion of generic naloxone, an overdose-reversing drug.

See Also: Opioid Maker Agrees To $4.2B Settlement With WI And Other States: DOJ