CVS, Walgreens, Walmart Settle Opioid Lawsuits: What It Means In IL

ILLINOIS — More money to fund abatement programs, through the Illinois Remediation Fund, will soon be headed to the state under a tentative agreement Wednesday with CVS and Walgreens. The two national drugstore chains have agreed to pay about $10 billion to local, state and tribal governments to resolve thousands of lawsuits claiming their pharmacies mishandled prescriptions for opioid painkillers.

Walmart is still negotiating its deal, but Reuters reported the settlement under discussion was in the $4 billion range.

A majority of plaintiffs still must approve the settlements. Walgreens, based in Deerfield, and CVS both agreed to pay about $5 billion each, and Walmart agreed to pay about $3.1 billion, Reuters and The New York Times reported.

“Millions of Americans have died or are sick due to the opioid epidemic," Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul told Patch via email. The companies that helped create and fuel this crisis need to step up to fix it. That means providing significant resources to ensure that people who are sick and dying in all our states get the treatment and recovery services they need. It also means changing their business practices to make sure this never happens again."

The tentative agreements reached Wednesday could be the last after years of litigation over the drug industry’s role in the opioid overdose crisis that has been linked to more than 500,000 U.S. deaths since 1999, according to Centers for Disease Control and Prevention data.

In February, an historic national $26 billion opioid settlement was agreed upon with the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors — Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen — and one manufacturer, Johnson & Johnson. State and local government across the nation began receiving funds during the second quarter of 2022.

Provisional CDC data for 2021 shows opioid overdose deaths increased from an estimated 70,029 in 2020 to 80,816 in 2021. Overdose deaths from synthetic opioids, primarily fentanyl, and psychostimulants such as methamphetamine and cocaine also continued to increase from 2020 to 2021.

More than 4,028 people in Illinois died of drug overdoses from May 2021 to May 2022, according to the CDC, for an increase of 15 percent. Importantly, the data isn’t sorted by type of drug, but the CDC has said that 82 percent of overdose deaths involve synthetic opioids.

Large prescription opioid manufacturers and the three major drug distribution companies have already settled the lawsuits against them, but retail pharmacies have been slow to strike a deal with the plaintiffs. The plaintiffs argued the pharmacies should have flagged inappropriate prescriptions.

So far, Illinois has received $760 million in opioid settlements. Earlier this year, Raoul's office said 94 out of 102 counties in the state had signed onto the agreement. In addition, 104 out of 113 Illinois municipalities that are eligible to receive a direct distribution from the settlements had joined. In total, more than 290 Illinois government subdivisions have joined the settlements.

Raoul said the majority of the money Illinois receives will go to the Illinois Remediation Fund to be used for abatement programs throughout the state. In addition, an advisory board will be established as a subcommittee of the state’s Opioid Overdose Prevention and Recovery Steering Committee. The advisory board will then make recommendations that "prioritize the equitable distribution of the money in the Fund." According to Raoul, the board will consider factors including population, opioid usage rates, overdose deaths and the amount of opioids shipped into a region.

“While significant work remains, a broad coalition of states, in cooperation with lawyers representing the subdivisions, is making progress in our negotiations with CVS and Walgreens, and we are hopeful that we will be able to reach a final agreement on all terms," Raoul said Thursday. "As soon as possible, we want to deliver meaningful resources to help the people in our states suffering from opioid addiction live healthy, happy lives."