McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health are accused of knowingly fueling the potentially life-threatening addiction to opioids.
Three US drug providers negotiate $ 18 billion deal over 18 years to close lawsuits in opioid crisis, reports, Tuesday, October 15, the Wall Street Journal citing sources familiar with the discussions.
The three groups – McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health – face lawsuits from states or hundreds of municipalities or counties in the United States accusing them of knowingly fueling the potentially life-threatening addiction to opioids. origin of a serious health crisis in recent years in the United States.
400,000 dead between 1999 and 2017
Health giant Johnson & Johnson is also involved in the discussions to pay an additional amount, add some sources quoted by the newspaper. Johnson & Johnson was fined $ 570 million on August 29 for the state of Oklahoma "Misleading marketing and promotion of opiates". The state estimated that $ 17 billion over the next thirty years would be needed to eradicate the public health crisis caused by addictions and overdoses. The company has announced that it will appeal. According to Caleb Alexander, a Johns Hopkins University scholar quoted in the Ohio file, nationwide measures to control the crisis could reach $ 453 billion over the next ten years. Overconsumption of opioids killed 400,000 people between 1999 and 2017.
If it succeeds, this agreement could affect or delay the trial, even if the selection of the jury was still to start on Wednesday, recalls the Wall Street Journal. Nearly 2,000 complaints have been filed against opiate drug manufacturers in various jurisdictions in the United States.
