CVS and Walgreens, the two largest pharmacy chains in the U.S., have agreed to pay state and local governments more than $10 billion to settle opioid lawsuits.
In recent years, pharmaceutical and retail chains have paid more than $50 billion to settle thousands of opioid lawsuits, Yahoo Finance reports.
CVS and Walgreens have given the state and local governments a deadline of Dec. 31, 2022 to accept their offer.
More than 500,000 people in the U.S. have died from opioids in the past two decades, with casualties, especially from fentanyl, rising in the past few years.
State and municipal governments began filing lawsuits against the drug industry in the 2010s over opioid addictions and deaths, and that wave of lawsuits has now expanded to include pharmacies for their part in selling the drugs.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta issued a statement Monday saying that his state could get up to $510 million in the Walgreens settlement. California is still assessing the CVS settlement.
“To all those struggling with substance abuse disorders, to all those desperately in need of treatment and recovery options, help is on the way,” Bonta said of the cash settlement, most of which will be used to help people fight opioid addiction.
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