Together, the developments amount to what could be the last round of huge settlements after years of litigation over the drug industry's role in an overdose crisis that has been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades.
In a conference call with analysts Wednesday, CVS Health CEO Karen Lynch said the deal sprang from mediation discussions that started last month. "We are pleased to resolve these longstanding claims and putting them behind us is in the best interest of all parties, as well as our customers, colleagues and shareholders," Thomas Moriarty, CVS chief policy officer and general counsel, said in a statement."We are committed to working with states, municipalities and tribes, and will continue our own important initiatives to help reduce the illegitimate use of prescription opioids.
"These agreements will be the first resolutions reached with pharmacy chains and will equip communities across the country with the much-needed tools to fight back against this epidemic and bring about tangible, positive change," lawyers for local governments said in a statement."In addition to payments totaling billions of dollars, these companies have committed to making significant improvements to their dispensing practices to help reduce addiction moving forward.
Most of the nation's opioid overdose deaths initially involved prescription drugs. As governments, doctors and companies took steps to make them harder to abuse and obtain, people addicted to them increasingly switched to heroin, which proved more deadly.