Allergan to pay up to $2.37 billion in the second such deal to come this week.
HARRISBURG–Attorney General Josh Shapiro today announced that he’s reached an agreement in principle with former opioid manufacturer Allergan, for allegedly downplaying the risk of addiction in marketing their opioids and failing to maintain control to prevent diversion of opioids. The proposed settlement would require Allergan to pay up to $2.37 billion to state and local governments.
This is the second agreement AG Shapiro has made with an opioid manufacturer this week, on Tuesday he announced he’d reached an agreement with Teva Pharmaceuticals. AG Shapiro and the Pennsylvania Office of Attorney General have investigated several opioid distributors and manufacturers in an effort to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable, including Purdue, McKinsey, Teva, and others, for jet-fueling the opioid epidemic we continue to battle. Once finalized, the Allergan settlement together with the Teva settlement would provide as much as $6.6 billion nationwide to communities hit hardest by the opioid epidemic.
“My office is determined to hold every company that fueled the opioid epidemic responsible for their reckless actions,” said AG Shapiro. “Allergan downplayed the risk of addiction associated with their opioids and then failed to keep those opioids from falling into the wrong hands. No amount of money will bring back the lives we lost, but today’s agreement will help ensure we can fund the programs Pennsylvania counties need for our communities to recover from this crisis.”
Today’s agreement is the result of a multistate investigation, led by Attorney General Shapiro, into six manufacturers and three distributors for their roles in the opioids epidemic. That investigation has led to, including today’s settlement, $40.4 billion in settlement agreements with opioid manufacturers and distributors.
Both the Allergan and Teva settlements remain under discussion and depend on an agreed settlement structure that is expected to build on the framework developed in prior nationwide opioid settlements. The parties are also negotiation terms requiring business practice changes and transparency.
Allergan formerly made Norco- and Kadian-branded and generic opioids. The company sold its generics portfolio, including its opioid products, to Teva in 2016. The agreement with Teva announced on Tuesday is contingent, in part, on Allergan reaching its own settlement with the states.
A multistate investigation alleged that Allergan:
- Deceptively marketed opioids by downplaying the risk of addiction, overstating their benefits, and encouraging doctors to treat patients showing signs of addiction by prescribing them more opioids.
- Failed to maintain effective controls to prevent diversion of opioids.
The $2.37 billion includes money that Allergan has already agreed to pay under settlements with individual states.
Negotiations for this settlement were led by Pennsylvania with California, Iowa, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia, and Wisconsin. While New York was among the states integral to negotiating this settlement, New York settled separately with Allergan in December 2021.
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