US

Drug Manufacturer Teva Agrees To Multi-Billion Dollar Settlement With Victims Of Opioid Epidemic

(MENAHEM KAHANA/AFP/Getty Images)

Daily Caller News Foundation logo
Font Size:

Teva Pharmaceuticals, one of the world’s largest generic drug manufacturers, has reached an agreement in principle to settle outstanding lawsuits over their alleged involvement in the national opioid crisis for $4.35 billion, according to a Teva press release.

This payout includes a commitment to supply $1.2 billion worth of Narcan, a drug that reverses opioid overdose, over the next ten years, the release states. The $4.25 billion will be distributed over the next 13 years, with $100 million being earmarked for Native American Tribes.

The lawsuits generally allege that the company was responsible for promoting opioids as painkillers without properly warning of their risks, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Teva expects documentation for the agreement will be “finalized within the coming weeks,” according to the press release. The proposal also allows signees to forego supplies of Narcan in exchange for 20% of its value in cash.

Should the agreement go into effect it would “resolve the vast majority of opioid-related claims and litigation” that Teva faces, according to the release.

Over $40 billion worth of proposed and completed settlements have been filed over the opioid crisis in recent years, according to CBS News. This includes a $5 billion national settlement earlier this year from Johnson & Johnson, and a $21 billion settlement from major drug distribution firms AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.

FILE PHOTO: A Teva Pharmaceutical Industries building is seen in Jerusalem December 14, 2017. REUTERS/Ammar Awad/File Photo

A New York jury found that Teva contributed to the state’s opioid crisis last December, according to CBS News. Teva mentioned in their press release that while New York was not affected by this proposed settlement, Teva and New York are continuing to negotiate a settlement. (RELATED: Judge Overturns Purdue Pharma’s Opioid Settlement That Shielded Sackler Family From Lawsuits)

This agreement in principle does not represent a finalized settlement, according to Teva. Teva has previously proposed a national settlement, but insufficient states became signatories for the deal to take effect, according to The WSJ.

A final settlement “remains contingent on agreement on critical business practice changes and transparency requirements,” said North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein, according to the WSJ.

Teva did not immediately respond to a Daily Caller News Foundation request for comment.

All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact licensing@dailycallernewsfoundation.org.

PREMIUM ARTICLE: Subscribe To Keep Reading

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!

Sign Up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
Sign up

By subscribing you agree to our Terms of Use

You're signed up!
BENEFITS READERS PASS PATRIOTS FOUNDERS
Daily and Breaking Newsletters
Daily Caller Shows
Ad Free Experience
Exclusive Articles
Custom Newsletters
Editor Daily Rundown
Behind The Scenes Coverage
Award Winning Documentaries
Patriot War Room
Patriot Live Chat
Exclusive Events
Gold Membership Card
Tucker Mug

What does Founders Club include?

Tucker Mug and Membership Card
Founders

Readers,

Instead of sucking up to the political and corporate powers that dominate America, The Daily Caller is fighting for you — our readers. We humbly ask you to consider joining us in this fight.

Now that millions of readers are rejecting the increasingly biased and even corrupt corporate media and joining us daily, there are powerful forces lined up to stop us: the old guard of the news media hopes to marginalize us; the big corporate ad agencies want to deprive us of revenue and put us out of business; senators threaten to have our reporters arrested for asking simple questions; the big tech platforms want to limit our ability to communicate with you; and the political party establishments feel threatened by our independence.

We don't complain -- we can't stand complainers -- but we do call it how we see it. We have a fight on our hands, and it's intense. We need your help to smash through the big tech, big media and big government blockade.

We're the insurgent outsiders for a reason: our deep-dive investigations hold the powerful to account. Our original videos undermine their narratives on a daily basis. Even our insistence on having fun infuriates them -- because we won’t bend the knee to political correctness.

One reason we stand apart is because we are not afraid to say we love America. We love her with every fiber of our being, and we think she's worth saving from today’s craziness.

Help us save her.

A second reason we stand out is the sheer number of honest responsible reporters we have helped train. We have trained so many solid reporters that they now hold prominent positions at publications across the political spectrum. Hear a rare reasonable voice at a place like CNN? There’s a good chance they were trained at Daily Caller. Same goes for the numerous Daily Caller alumni dominating the news coverage at outlets such as Fox News, Newsmax, Daily Wire and many others.

Simply put, America needs solid reporters fighting to tell the truth or we will never have honest elections or a fair system. We are working tirelessly to make that happen and we are making a difference.

Since 2010, The Daily Caller has grown immensely. We're in the halls of Congress. We're in the Oval Office. And we're in up to 20 million homes every single month. That's 20 million Americans like you who are impossible to ignore.

We can overcome the forces lined up against all of us. This is an important mission but we can’t do it unless you — the everyday Americans forgotten by the establishment — have our back.

Please consider becoming a Daily Caller Patriot today, and help us keep doing work that holds politicians, corporations and other leaders accountable. Help us thumb our noses at political correctness. Help us train a new generation of news reporters who will actually tell the truth. And help us remind Americans everywhere that there are millions of us who remain clear-eyed about our country's greatness.

In return for membership, Daily Caller Patriots will be able to read The Daily Caller without any of the ads that we have long used to support our mission. We know the ads drive you crazy. They drive us crazy too. But we need revenue to keep the fight going. If you join us, we will cut out the ads for you and put every Lincoln-headed cent we earn into amplifying our voice, training even more solid reporters, and giving you the ad-free experience and lightning fast website you deserve.

Patriots will also be eligible for Patriots Only content, newsletters, chats and live events with our reporters and editors. It's simple: welcome us into your lives, and we'll welcome you into ours.

We can save America together.

Become a Daily Caller Patriot today.

Signature

Neil Patel