New Mexico has brokered a deal with Walgreens, hitting the pharmacy chain with a $500 million settlement for its purported role in distributing potent prescription opioid drugs without properly scrutinizing prescriptions for potential substance misuse and addiction risks.
Opioids encompass approved painkillers like OxyContin, and multiple derivatives of fentanyl, an extremely potent and addictive synthetic opioid. Fentanyl, known for its intensity, being 50 times stronger than heroin and 100 times more potent than morphine, was initially approved by the Food and Drug Administration for managing severe pain. However, its potency has led to increased misuse and addiction, with just a two-milligram dose potentially proving fatal.
State officials revealed that the agreement with New Mexico was inked in March, and a confidentiality clause on the settlement was lifted recently. This settlement is an addition to last fall's $274 million in agreements obtained from Albertsons, CVS, Kroger, and Walmart in the same case. The state's attorneys maintain that the cumulative yield from New Mexico's opioid litigation now exceeds $1 billion.
At last year's trial, the state's representation argued that Walgreens disregarded dubious prescriptions and didn't refuse to fill them. Luis Robles, an attorney who worked on the case, expressed optimism about the settlement's potential positive impact on combating the opioid crisis.
Over the last few years, companies involved in the opioid business, from manufacturers to distribution companies and pharmacies, have agreed to settlements surpassing $50 billion with local, state, and tribal governments. Notably, Walgreens settled with San Fransisco for $230 million in May, after a judge ruled that the pharmacy chain could be held accountable for contributing substantially to the city's opioid epidemic.
Furthermore, CVS Pharmacy agreed to a nearly $152 million settlement with Nevada over the company's role in the opioid crisis. CVS has also agreed to pay nearly $5 billion to resolve opioid lawsuits in several states in the previous year.
Most of the settlement funds garnered from opioid litigations are earmarked to combat the crisis, which has been associated with over 560,000 deaths in the U.S. in the last two decades. According to CDC data, over 100,000 Americans likely succumbed to drug overdoses in 2022, the highest ever recorded figure.
States such as Washington and Wyoming saw the highest increase in overdose deaths in 2022, whereas South Dakota witnessed the most significant percentage decrease. Amid the rising threat of fentanyl-related deaths across the country, the urgency to curb the opioid crisis has never been more pronounced.