An additional $68.8 million in funds are coming to Delaware to combat the state’s opioid crisis.
“It’s my hope and my intent and my mission to make sure that we save lives going forward, in the names of those we have lost. That’s critically important,” said Attorney General Kathy Jennings, who Monday announced settlement agreements with CVS and Walgreens for their role in Delaware’s opioid crisis.
The two pharmacies are paying the state a combined $43.6 million, and are now required to monitor, report, and share data about suspicious activity related to opioid prescriptions.
Jennings also announced she plans to join two separate national settlements with opioid manufacturers Teva and Allergan, which will bring an additional $25.2 million to the state.
This brings the total amount expected to be won from investigations and litigation against the pharmaceutical industry to roughly $250 million in the State of Delaware.
“This is an enormous amount of money, second only to the tobacco settlements of decades ago,” said Jennings. “So this is the second largest amount that Delaware has ever gotten in a settlement of this nature. That’s true in Delaware, and that’s true nationally.”
Prior finalized settlements by Jennings include Johnson & Johnson, AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson, which brought $111.3 million; Walmart, which brought $11.8 million; and McKinsey & Co., which brought $2.58 million.
Other settlements by Jennings are Purdue Pharma, which is valued up to $50 million; Mallinckrodt which is valued up to $4.8 million; and Endo, which is valued at up to $2 million.
If all of the settlements meet their maximum value when finalized, the state could see a total of $251.28 million.
Jennings adds these settlement dollars are protected by narrow guardrails, and must be used for the abatement of the opioid crisis.
“Many people recall that in earlier settlements, like tobacco and others, that sometimes the money got diverted to general funds, to use to fill potholes, to fix bridges, etc. That can’t happen here. The money that comes in must be used for abatement,” Jennings explained.
Delaware’s share of all opioid settlements goes directly to the State’s Prescription Opioid Settlement Distribution Fund, which funds services that reduce and/or remediate the harms caused by opioids.
Payments are also strategically structured to aid in abatement methods.
Allegan's and Teva’s payments will be over 7 years and 13 years, and CVS’s and Walgreens’ payments will be spread over 10 years and 15 years, respectively. Most of Walmart’s amount will be paid during the first year.
The first payments are expected to begin arriving in 2023.
