FL Gets $1.3 Billion In Opioid Settlement From Drug Companies

TAMPA, FL — On Wednesday, Attorney General Ashley Moody announced historic $26 billion nationwide agreements that will help bring desperately needed relief to Americans who are struggling with opioid addiction.

The agreements follow years of litigation efforts led by Moody and other state attorneys general against Amerisource Bergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson—the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors—and Johnson & Johnson, who manufactured and marketed opioids.

“While the damage can’t be undone, the more than $1.3 billion Florida will receive will help us continue to combat the devastating effects of the nationwide opioid crisis,” said DeSantis. “This settlement helps hold these companies accountable for their role in contributing to the opioid epidemic and will provide Floridians struggling with opioid addiction the services they need to recover. I appreciate Attorney General Ashley Moody for championing efforts to address the destruction caused by opioids in Florida.”

See related story: Florida Tops Nation In Opioid Abuse: 21 Residents Die Every Day

According to the 2020 Interim Florida Medical Examiner Report, there were more than 3,800 opioid-related deaths reported last year, a 30.5 percent increase from 2019, with opioids identified as either the cause of death or present in the deceased. In 2020, more than 3,000 opioid-caused deaths were reported, which is a 51 percent increase from 2019.

Last year, there were nearly 38,000 opioid overdose emergency department visits among Florida residents. Furthermore, there were 7,138 drug overdose deaths among adults 18 years of age and older in Florida in 2020.

Based on the agreement, the three distributors collectively will pay up to $21 billion over 17 and a half years, with Florida receiving a total of $1.3 billion. The settlement funding will be used to support opioid treatment, prevention and recovery services, DeSantis said.

“Since Day 1, I have fought to hold those accountable who played a part in fueling the opioid epidemic and these settlement agreements are a large step forward in our fight to end this crisis," Moody said. "I recognize that no amount of money will bring back those lost, but Florida and its subdivisions will receive more than a billion and a half dollars under these agreements to pay for prevention, treatment and recovery-related services. I will continue litigating with the remaining defendants to hold them accountable.”

The agreements resolve investigations and litigation over the companies’ roles in creating and fueling the opioid epidemic. The agreements also require significant industry changes that will help prevent this type of crisis from ever happening again.

Attorneys general from California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas joined Moody in negotiating these settlements.

Based on the agreements, the three distributors collectively will pay up to $21 billion over 17 and a half years, with $1.3 billion going to Florida, and Johnson & Johnson will pay up to $5 billion over nine years with Florida receiving another almost $300 million.

The total funding distributed will be determined by the overall degree of participation by both litigating and non-litigating state and local governments.

The agreement with distributors includes court orders requiring AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal and McKesson to:

• Establish a centralized independent clearinghouse to provide all three distributors and state regulators with aggregated data and analytics about where drugs are going and how often, eliminating blind spots in the current systems used by distributors;
• Use data-driven systems to detect suspicious opioid orders from customer pharmacies;
• Terminate customer pharmacies’ ability to receive shipments, and report those companies to state regulators, when they show certain signs of diversion;
• Prohibit shipping and report suspicious opioid orders;
• Prohibit sales staff from influencing decisions related to identifying suspicious opioid orders; and
• Require senior corporate officials to engage in regular oversight of anti-diversion efforts.

The agreement with Johnson & Johnson will result in court orders requiring the company to:

• Stop selling opioids for 10 years;
• Not fund or provide grants to third parties for promoting opioids;
• Not lobby on activities related to opioids; and
• Share clinical trial data under the Yale University Open Data Access Project.

These settlements come as a result of investigations by state attorneys general into whether the three distributors fulfilled a legal obligation to refuse the shipment of opioids to pharmacies that submitted suspicious drug orders and whether Johnson & Johnson misled patients and doctors about the addictive nature of opioid drugs.

Overdose deaths in Florida increased more than 37 percent, ranking Florida second in the nation, behind only California. More than 7,500 people died in the state from overdoses last year.

This week's announcement comes on the heels of previously announced opioid settlements with Insys Therapeutics, McKinsey Consulting, Mallinckrodt and Purdue Pharma.

Combined, these earlier settlements are expected to generate more than $300 million for Florida opioid abatement, which brings the collective opioid settlements for Florida to $1.9 billion.

To see more information on the settlement, click here.