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

WISCONSIN — Opioid maker Teva has reached a tentative agreement to pay $4.25 billion to Wisconsin and several other states after the company was accused of deceptive marketing, according to a news release from the state Department of Justice.

Details of the settlement remain within negotiations, but the key financial terms were revealed on Wednesday, the DOJ said. The multi-billion-dollar payout would go to participating states and local governments. The Israel-based company makes Actiq and Fentora, both fentanyl products for cancer pain, plus generic opioids like oxycodone.

Teva was accused of promoting potent fentanyl products for use by non-cancer patients, deceptive marketing that downplayed the risk of addiction and overstated benefits, and failure to comply with suspicious order monitoring requirements, according to the DOJ news release.

The company was also accused of furthering the idea that signs of addiction were "pseudoaddiction" requiring treatment with more opioids, the DOJ said.

Deaths caused by opioids have been on the rise in Wisconsin in recent years. According to data from the state Department of Health Services, there were 1,227 opioid-related deaths in Wisconsin in 2020 and 1,401 opioid-related deaths in 2021.

From 2018 to 2020, opioid-related deaths rose by over 46 percent, according to the DHS.

“This agreement, if finalized, will mark another significant step forward in bringing resources to Wisconsin for fighting this epidemic," Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul said in a statement.

The terms of the initial agreement would build on the existing framework that states and subdivisions created in other recent opioid settlements, and would have Teva paying the cash over 13 years, the DOJ said.

The company would also provide $1.2 billion of generic naloxone, a drug that can reverse opioid overdoses. The final settlement will rest on an agreement to change business practices and follow transparency requirements, according to the DOJ.

Besides Wisconsin, negotiations were also led in California, Illinois, Iowa, Massachusetts, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia.