Walgreens to pay Florida $683M to settle opioid lawsuit
Walgreens has agreed to pay the state of Florida $683 million to settle a lawsuit claiming the drugstore chain helped fuel the state’s devastating opioid crisis, the company announced Thursday.
The settlement includes $620 million to be paid over 18 years and a one-time payment of $63 million for attorneys’ fees. Walgreens admitted no wrongdoing or liability, a company news release said.
“As the largest pharmacy chain in the state, we remain focused on and committed to being part of the solution and believe this resolution is in the best interest of all parties involved,” said Danielle Gray, executive vice president and global chief legal officer for Walgreens Boots Alliance, the chain’s parent company. “Our pharmacists are dedicated healthcare professionals who live and work in the communities they serve, and play a critical role in providing education and resources to help combat opioid misuse and abuse.”
In court filings, the state claimed a Walgreens drug distribution center sold 2.2 million tablets to a single Walgreens pharmacy in tiny Hudson — enough for a roughly six-month supply for each of the town’s 12,000 residents. In some communities, the Florida Attorney General’s Office said, Walgreens increased orders up to 600% in just two years, including, for example, supplying a town of 3,000 with 285,800 orders of oxycodone in one month.
The settlement ends a case that went to trial April 11 in New Port Richey. Walgreens opted not to join a combined $878 million settlement with four other healthcare companies, including CVS.
Walgreens is the 12th and final defendant in the state’s case to hold major opioid distributors, manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies accountable for fueling the crisis. The announcement brings the total from the state’s lawsuits to more than $3 billion.
“Before taking office, I vowed to seek accountability for the opioid crisis, and with this final action, I can now say we have successfully accomplished our mission,” said Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody. “Our hope is this money, paid out over the next two decades, will save lives and help Florida families and communities heal.”
A portion of the Walgreens settlement will be sent directly to Florida’s cities and counties and must be spent on opioid abuse prevention, treatment or recovery services.
“This is a great victory,” said Andrae Bailey, founder of the national nonprofit Project Opioid, based in Orlando. “And this money is critically important, because [opioid overdose] deaths have skyrocketed since the day these lawsuits were filed. Deaths have gone up by over 50% in every community in Florida. We have to realize that the people who are dying are young people, vulnerable people, and people who need help and treatment, not handcuffs and judgment.”
In July 2021, Moody announced a multibillion-dollar nationwide settlement[/u] with McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health, Inc., AmerisourceBergen Corp., and Johnson & Johnson, Inc. Florida will receive more than $1.6 billion from that settlement, which must be used for remediation. Florida also finalized a [u]settlement with McKinsey & Company for $40 million in February 2021.
Walgreens said it has already made the overdose-reversal medication Naloxone available in all Walgreens pharmacies, taken steps to educate patients on opioid dangers and provided medication disposal kiosks at 1,400 locations nationwide.