Settlement With 3 Opioid Distributors Reached: LI Executives

CENTRAL ISLIP, NY — A new multi-million dollar settlement agreement was reached with three major opioid distributors, Suffolk County Executive Steve Bellone and Nassau County Executive Laura Curran announced Tuesday morning.

A settlement was reached Monday with AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson Corporation — drug distributors accused of a large role in the prescription opioid epidemic — the executives said. Suffolk County is slated to receive between $87 million to $106 million over 18 years as a result of the settlements, while Nassau is due to receive up to $115 million. New York, overall, agreed to settle more than $1 billion in opioid-related lawsuits.

"For far too long, our region has been plagued by the opioid epidemic," Bellone said. "It's been more than a decade that we've seen the rising impact of opioid addiction here on Long Island."

The new settlement joins previously approved settlements, including with Johnson & Johnson, along with chain pharmacies Walgreens, Walmart, CVS and Rite Aid. Suffolk is due to receive $1.5 million from Rite Aid, $4 million from CVS, more than $3 million from Walmart, $5 million from Walgreens and nearly $20 million from Johnson & Johnson over 20 years, Bellone said.

The lawsuits will allow the counties to bring back tens of millions of dollars to continue the battle against the opioid epidemic on a community level. The money will be used to help lift the financial burden off of taxpayers and address the challenges posed by opioids, according to Bellone.

"Much work is still to be done, but it is important when you can say that people are held accountable for what they have done," Bellone said.

Bellone said the Suffolk County Police Department has done a "tremendous job" in arresting opioid dealers and helping to slow the stream of drugs hitting the county's streets. In addition to law enforcement, the county has also implemented programs to help those struggling with addiction through awareness, a hotline, treatment programs and more.

Bellone said he worked closely with Curran on the opioid issue.

In Nassau, funds from the settlements will be earmarked for mental health, prevention treatments, education and supporting the communities that were hit the hardest by the opioid epidemic on Long Island, Curran said.

"Before this went to trial, I made a promise to our residents that we would make these companies pay for the damage that they have wrought," she said. "We know that no amount of money will replace people who have been lost or will totally cure that heartache. "

Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health will be required to make lifesaving changes to their conduct, according to Curran. Clearinghouses will need to be created where distributors would be required to account for their shipments — as well as shipments from other distributors — in order to halt "suspicious orders," Curran said. Drug distributors will be required to collect data, set shipment limits and follow patterns and trends in customer data to evaluate whether their products are being abused.

"No longer can these distributors skirt the law by saying once it leaves their factory, it's out of their hands," Curran said.

In 2016, a lawsuit was filed by Suffolk County accusing companies like Purdue Pharma and Johnson & Johnson of downplaying the risks of their painkillers, said Suffolk County Legislature Presiding Officer Robert Calarco. Two years prior, when the county was looking at the feasibility of the lawsuit, constituents voiced concerns that the prescriptions made by doctors were legal, according to Calarco.

"It was a kid who hurt his knee playing football," Calarco said. "It was a husband who hurt his back on the job. It was a wife who had a car accident, and all of a sudden, they got prescribed these opioid pain medications. The doctors thought they were doing them a favor. In fact, they'd write them bigger scripts than they needed so they didn't have to come back for a second prescription or pay that second copay. Because they thought it was safe; because the drug manufacturers told them it was safe. The reality is, it was not safe. It was highly addictive."

2016, at the time, marked the highest number of opioid-related overdose deaths in the United States with more than 43,000 people dying, according to a chart from the National Institute on Drug Abuse. More than 40 percent of those deaths were tied back to legal prescriptions, Calarco said.

"This was not the drug slingers on the street who were causing the problem," he said. "It was the drug slingers in executive board offices causing the problem, sending this problem back to us in Suffolk County, Nassau County and counties across this country."

Nassau County will also be named as one of the 17 members of the National Enforcement Committee, which is responsible for overseeing negotiations, outreach, and implementation of a potential National Global Settlement.

Nassau County is still in a trial alongside the New York Attorney General’s Office and Suffolk County against drug manufacturers Teva Pharmaceutical Industries, Allergan PLC, Endo International, and Anda Pharmaceutical Products.

"We have confidence in the judicial system and are very optimistic we will hold these companies responsible at trial," Curran said.