Opioid manufacturer Teva Pharmaceuticals reaches $4.25B global settlement
Under the settlement, announced on Tuesday, Teva would provide $3.7 billion to states, local communities and Native American tribes, plus $1.2 billion worth of generic Narcan, a nasal spray used to treat opioid overdoses.
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd., a Tel Aviv, Israel-based manufacturer of generic opiates, has agreed to a $4.25 billion global settlement to resolve thousands of lawsuits.
The global deal, announced as part of Teva’s quarterly earnings on Tuesday, would provide $3.7 billion to states, local communities and Native American tribes, plus $1.2 billion worth of generic Narcan, a nasal spray used to treat opioid overdoses. The deal is contingent on reaching an indemnification agreement with another generic opioid manufacturer, Allergan, and on Allergan, which is part of AbbVie, reaching its own nationwide settlement, as well as the participation of a certain number of states, subdivisions and Native American tribes.
“In the second quarter, Teva has delivered a solid performance, despite global macroeconomic headwinds,” said Teva CEO Kåre Schultz. “We are also pleased to have reached a nationwide agreement in principle, pending participation by states and subdivisions, to resolve the majority of our costly legacy opioids litigation, and importantly, make critical medicines available to those most impacted by the U.S. opioid epidemic.”
Teva negotiated the deal with the plaintiffs executive committee in the opioid multidistrict litigation, along with a “working group” of attorneys general of 12 states, including California, New York, Pennsylvania and Texas. Negotiations also included attorneys for Native American tribes and plaintiffs lawyers representing individual states and local communities.
“While this settlement will resolve claims against a defendant accused of fueling this epidemic in multiple state and federal trials across the country, the agreement can only go into effect with the support of states, subdivisions, and Native American Tribes,” the plaintiffs executive committee said in a statement. “We encourage all these groups to sign onto this agreement to allow these resources to get into the hands of those who need them as fast as possible. While this agreement is a vital step, we also recognize that this alone will not put an end to the opioid epidemic.”
Teva’s settlement contains many of the same provisions in a $26 billion global opioid agreement reached last year with the nation’s three largest drug distributors—McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health—and Johnson & Johnson’s Janssen Pharmaceuticals. In addition to the settlement requiring participation, distributions of the funds are based on a state or community’s population and proportionate share of the opioid epidemic’s impact.
The $3.7 billion includes about $650 million in already settled cases, according to the plaintiffs executive committee. This year, Teva settled opioid lawsuits brought by the city of San Francisco and the states of Florida, West Virginia and Rhode Island. The remaining $3 billion will be in abatement funds, spread over 13 years, plus attorney fees and costs over six years.
“Although we have tried bellwether cases and will continue to do so, my overarching focus has been on achieving comprehensive settlements on a nationwide basis that will bring critical resources to all states and all communities that have been ravished by this epidemic, and this is another step towards achieving that goal,” said Paul Geller, of Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd in Boca Raton, Florida, a member of the plaintiffs executive committee.
Teva was one of four drug companies that won a Nov. 1 tentative decision, later finalized, in a bench trial against three large California counties and the city of Oakland, California.
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Teva said it had no more opioid trials planned. This fall, however, an abatement trial will take place involving the state of New York and two Long Island counties. On Dec. 30, a New York jury found Teva liable in that opioid case.
Hunter Shkolnik, of New York’s Napoli Shkolnik, who represents one of the plaintiffs, Nassau County, said Teva’s settlement would not include the New York case.
“This settlement not only brings needed help to communities like Paul mentioned, but importantly it shows that high level litigation is a vehicle to ensure that companies like Teva are held accountable for their actions,” he said.