Utah would receive 1.19% of funds in state attorneys general opioid lawsuit

Number and age-adjusted rates (per 100,000) of drug overdose deaths by state, US 2019. Photo: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — A bipartisan group of state attorneys general announced a $26 billion agreement with the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors and Johnson & Johnson for their harm in creating the opioid epidemic. The three distributors – Cardinal, McKesson, and Amerisource Bergen – will pay up to $21 billion over 18 years. Johnson & Johnson will pay up to $5 billion over nine years.

Utah’s portion of the settlement is 1.19%, yielding a total of $309,114,000 to be paid out over 18 years. The funds will go towards opioid treatment and prevention.  Each state’s share was determined by variables that display the impact of the crisis on the state- the number of overdose deaths, residents with substance use disorder, opioids prescribed.

The agreement would drop thousands of lawsuits from state and local governments across the country.

The distributors are accused of not properly maintaining their supply chain and letting drugstore chains like Walgreens overprescribe opioids. A New York Times report in 2019 noted a Walgreens in Port Richey, Florida that ordered 3,271 bottles of oxycodone in one month. The town’s population at the time was 2,831.

In 2015, as the epidemic was growing worse by the year, Johnson & Johnson was the leading supplier for the raw ingredients that make up painkillers in the United States. They are also accused of downplaying the addictive properties of the drugs when marketing them to doctors and patients.

In a joint statement, the three distributors said: “While the companies strongly dispute the allegations made in these lawsuits, they believe the proposed settlement agreement and settlement process it establishes are important steps toward achieving broad resolution of governmental opioid claims and delivering meaningful relief to communities across the United States.”

The agreement will now go out to the states and all their municipalities for formal approval. Utah has 30 days to decide whether it will sign-on, while local governments have 150 days.

“The impacts of the opioid epidemic have been and continue to be devastating to thousands of Utahns and their families, so I appreciate the Department of Commerce and the Attorney General’s Office negotiating this agreement on behalf of Utah,” Gov. Cox said. “I look forward to working with the Legislature to determine the best use of these funds to benefit Utahns affected by the opioid crisis.”

Opioid overdose deaths rose to an estimated 93,000 last year, marking a new record. It was a roughly 30 percent increase from the prior year. About 500,000 people have died from opioid overdoses since 1999.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Utah drug providers wrote 57.1 opioid prescriptions for every 100 persons compared to the national average of 51.4.

“This is a reckoning long overdue,” said Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes. “It has taken us years of hard-fought investigation, and I’m proud of the bipartisan cooperation that has gone into the prosecution and negotiation to arrive at this landmark settlement. But that is nothing compared to the years of suffering from so many in our state. Families across our state have shared with me their heart-wrenching stories about loved ones struggling with the horrible disease of addiction or who have overdosed and died.”