U.S. pharmaceutical companies agree to set $ 1.18 billion in opioids in New York

The three largest U.S. drug dealers have agreed to pay up to $ 1.188 billion to New York State for their role in the opioid crisis, the state’s top prosecutor announced Tuesday.

The agreement of McKesson, Cardinal Health and Amerisource Bergen is another major deal between the three distributors plus the pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson and numerous US states and local governments according to American media, it is about to get there.

This deal, under construction since October 2019, could reach $ 26 billion, according to anonymous sources quoted by the New York Times.

The deal announced Tuesday by New York Attorney General Letitia James is the largest to date by New York State, which has been particularly aggressive in seeking companies accused of having contributed to the opioid crisis.

It allows the three distributors, dominant powers in the U.S. healthcare industry, to withdraw from an ongoing jury trial in the state through crisis.

They had been accused of making huge profits by pushing highly addictive prescription opioids such as oxycontin that cost them local authorities billions of dollars for Social services in dealing with the consequences of the epidemic.

James had already announced in late June a $ 230 million deal with Johnson & Johnson, which also allowed him to escape trial.

The aggressive promotion of highly addictive painkillers from the mid-1990s is seen by many as the trigger for the opioid crisis, which has killed more than half a million people in the United States.

Major laboratories, starting with Purdue, currently bankrupt, Johnson & Johnson, Teva, Allergan and Endo, are the subject of civil lawsuits, in addition to major US distributors, pharmacy networks and doctors.

The crisis has worsened during the pandemic, with more than 93,000 people dying from an overdose, often linked to opiates, in 2020, according to statistics released last week.

© 2021 AFP