OKLAHOMA CITY — Outgoing Attorney General John O’Connor issued a media statement last week saying the state had reached a settlement with four parties in Oklahoma’s ongoing opioid lawsuit.
O’Connor said the state had settled with Allergan Pharmaceuticals, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart. He said the state would recover $226.1 million: $79.5 million from Walgreens, $73 million from CVS, $41 million from Walmart and $32.6 from Allergan, an opioid manufacturer.
“The opioid crisis has inflicted unspeakable pain on Oklahoma families and caused the deaths of thousands of Oklahomans,” O’Connor said. “Between 2016 and 2020, more than 3,000 Oklahomans died from opioid overdoses. These recent settlements bring Oklahoma’s total recoveries from opioid manufacturers, distributors, and retailers to almost $1 billion. As with prior opioid settlement funds, Oklahoma’s recoveries must be used to abate and treat opioid addictions and to save lives across our state.”
O’Connor said almost all of the funds must be used to remediate the state’s opioid crisis. That includes funding for prevention, harm reduction, treatment and recover services. He said most funds would be paid to the state over the next decade; Walgreens’ payments would be spread out over the next 15 years.
According to Attorney General’s office, the settlement with Ireland-based Allergan would provide $2.37 billion. Several states alleged that Allergan deceptively marketed opioids by downplaying the risk of addiction, overstating their benefits, encouraging doctors to treat patients showing signs of addiction by prescribing them more opioids, and failed to maintain effective controls to prevent diversion of opioids.
In addition, CVS, Walgreens and Walmart have agreed to a pay a collective total of $13.8 billion nationally. The companies have also agreed to monitor, report and share data about suspicious activity related to opioid prescriptions.
The settlements come after several years of legal wrangling.
In 2019, Cleveland County District Judge Thad Balkman ruled in favor of $465 million lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson for its role in the opioid epidemic. That ruling was later overturned by the Oklahoma Supreme Court on a 5-1 vote. The state’s high court rejected the argument that Johnson & Johnson had violated Oklahoma’s public nuisance laws by its aggressive marketing of prescription opioid painkillers.
Oklahoma’s lawsuit was the first state lawsuit against an opioids manufacturer to come to trial. The ruling, made in August 2019 set the tone for future lawsuits but was substantially less than the $17 billion sought.
O’Connor’s office argued that health is a public right and that Johnson & Johnson violated that right under the public nuisance law. Other opioid manufacturers, Teva and Purdue Pharma, settled their cases before the bench trial against Johnson & Johnson began in May 2019.
At the time, O’Connor said he was disappointed by the high court’s decision, adding that the state would continue to pursue other claims against opioid distributors.
Records from the state Department of Health show there were 733 drug overdose fatalities, an increase of 24% from 2019. Those figures, O’Connor said, include a 170%increase in the number of deaths related to fentanyl from 2019 to 2020.
Incoming Attorney General Gentner Drummond has not said what his strategy would be regarding the filed Johnson & Johnson lawsuit. Drummond, who defeated O’Connor in last fall’s general election, was sworn in on Jan. 9.