CVS and Walgreens to pay NC more than $1 billion in opioid settlement funding
RALEIGH, NC (WWAY) — CVS and Walgreens will pay a combined $10.7 billion for the pharmaceutical industry’s role in the opioid crisis, with more than $1 billion going to North Carolina.
Attorney General Josh Stein announced on Monday that he has finalized agreements with the two pharmacies, to bring the national amount from investigations and litigation against the pharmaceutical industry to more than $50 billion.
“This crisis is unlike anything we’ve ever seen,” said Stein. “It’s the deadliest drug epidemic in American history. Too many people have died and too many more have had their lives torn apart. It is on their behalf that my colleagues and I have worked so hard on a bipartisan basis to hold accountable the companies that created and fueled this crisis. I am proud to have help lead the effort to secure more than $10 billion from these two drug store chains, and I know that because of these agreements, more people will be alive, healthy, and happy in the coming years than otherwise would have been.”
In addition to the financial settlement, CVS and Walgreens, along with Walmart earlier, have agreed to court-ordered injunctive relief that requires the pharmacies to monitor, report, and share data about suspicious activity related to opioid prescriptions.
The terms of this agreement will now go to the states for their review. Each state will have until the end of 2022 to join, after which the Walmart, Walgreens, and CVS agreements will go to local governments around the country for sign-on during the first quarter of 2023. North Carolina intends to join the agreement. Nearly all of the settlement funds must be used to remediate the opioid crisis, including prevention, harm reduction, treatment, and recovery services.
The negotiations have been led by Attorneys General from North Carolina, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, and Texas.
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