San Francisco stated on Wednesday it reached a $230 million settlement with Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc over its position within the metropolis’s opioid epidemic.
The settlement got here 9 months after US District Decide Charles Breyer in San Francisco stated the pharmacy chain could possibly be held answerable for having “considerably contributed” to an opioid epidemic that triggered “widespread hurt” within the metropolis and constituted a public nuisance.
Breyer faulted Walgreens for its “15-year failure” to correctly scrutinize opioid prescriptions and flag attainable misuse of the generally extremely addictive medication.
At a press convention, San Francisco Metropolis Legal professional David Chiu referred to as Walgreens’ settlement the most important awarded to an area authorities in years of opioid litigation nationwide.
He stated Walgreens’ actions “made the opioid epidemic in San Francisco worse than it in any other case would have been,” and that there’s “no sum of money that can deliver again the lives we’ve misplaced.”
In an announcement, Walgreens stated it “disputes legal responsibility” and didn’t admit fault, however that settling permits it to deal with sufferers, prospects and communities. “Our ideas are with these impacted by this tragic disaster,” it added.
The Deerfield, Illinois-based firm had been the one remaining defendant in San Francisco’s civil lawsuit, after a number of drugmakers and distributors reached settlements value greater than $120 million.
In his ruling final Aug. 10, following a non-jury trial, Breyer discovered that Walgreens suffered from a profit-driven “fill, fill, fill” tradition in dishing out opioids.
Breyer discovered that Walgreens’ San Francisco pharmacies had obtained greater than 1.2 million opioid prescriptions with “pink flags” from 2006 to 2020, but carried out due diligence on lower than 5% earlier than dishing out them.
Walgreens’ settlement averts a trial to find out damages.
San Francisco had estimated it may cost a little $8.1 billion to abate the opioid disaster, and that Walgreens was legally answerable for the complete quantity.
Final Could, Walgreens reached a $683 million opioid settlement with Florida, paying greater than three-quarters of the $878 million that 4 different firms, together with rival CVS Well being Corp, agreed to pay in related, earlier settlements.
Opioids embrace authorized painkillers comparable to OxyContin, and varied types of the drug fentanyl.
Greater than 600,000 folks have died from drug overdoses in the US from 1999 to 2021, together with greater than 107,000 in 2021 alone, in accordance with the US Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention.
Walgreens shares closed up 69 cents at $32.04 in Wednesday buying and selling on Nasdaq.
