Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva will pay over four billion dollars in compensation, the company announced Tuesday, after thousands of lawsuits were filed against the manufacturer by authorities and various states in the United States for using opioid-based drugs.
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The National Prescription Opiate Litigation Plaintiffs' Executive Committee confirmed on Tuesday that they – alongside the working group of States' Attorneys General, counsel for Native American Tribes, and plaintiffs' lawyers representing the States and local communities – have reached an agreement in principle with Teva.
As part of the agreement to resolve these claims, the pharmaceutical company will pay approximately $3.7 billion, which includes approximately $650,000,000 in funds earmarked for already settled cases along with more than $3 billion in additional abatement funds, evenly spread over 13 years plus relevant legal fees and costs over six years.
In addition, there will be approximately $100,000,000 for Native American tribes. Teva will also offer the option of $1.2 billion worth of its generic version of the drug Narcan – naloxone hydrochloride nasal spray used to reverse an opioid overdose – over 10 years or, in lieu of the product, an agreed-upon cash equivalent.
Teva President and CEO Kåre Schultz said he was "pleased to have reached a nationwide agreement in principle, pending participation by states and subdivisions, to resolve the majority of our costly legacy opioids litigation, and importantly, make critical medicines available to those most impacted by the US opioid epidemic."
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