It was supposed to be one of the most complicated civil cases in US history, with more than 200 hours of talk time for the parties involved - but a settlement came out on Monday morning.
Four out of five pharmaceutical companies sued at the last minute reached a $ 245 million deal with two local governments in a US opiate crisis case , The New York Times reported . That trial would become a test case for the more than 2,300 indictments filed throughout the country against pharmaceutical companies. How consciously and actively have they tried to make Americans addicted to various analgesic drugs - resulting in more than 400,000 deaths since 1999? How much have they played down the addictive consequences? And what kind of compensation should that all lead to?
It is not now possible for the court to judge this, except possibly in the case against Walgreens Booth Alliance, a pharmacy chain. It is still unclear whether the trial against this party will continue on Monday. In the weeks prior to Monday, seven other pharmaceutical companies had already arranged with the two demanding counties .
$ 48 billion settlement Monday's settlement is one of many steps in the legal settlement of the opiate crisis that the US is seizing. The case should have served as a guideline for the thousands of other charges filed by, among others, local governments and hospitals. That is still being negotiated between lawyers from the various parties, which according to The Wall Street Journal would amount to around $ 48 billion. The New York Times expects that a breakthrough may also be achieved on Monday in these settlement discussions.
On the pharmaceutical side, the business mainly concerns large producers and distributors with billions of dollars, such as McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal, three of the largest companies in the US. They say they have always obeyed the law and point to the responsibility of doctors when prescribing painkillers. A major absence is Purdue Pharma, which already made a billions settlement in September - and then filed for bankruptcy
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