FEATURE
Berks County to receive $16.3 million from nationwide opioid settlement by David Kostival
W
ith a national opioid overdose crisis raging out of control for more than 20 years, it was almost inevitable that pharmaceutical companies and drug distributors would eventually be forced to take responsibility. A landmark $26 billion settlement agreement was recently reached between the National Prescription Opiate Litigation Plaintiff’s Executive Committee and the three big drug distributors – McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, Inc. and AmeriSource Bergen Corporation – as well as opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson. The settlement is the first of its kind which will distribute funds directly to the state and local municipalities specifically for opioid relief programs. The agreement reached calls for Johnson and Johnson to pay $5 billion over 9 years and prohibits the company from manufacturing or selling opioids for 10 years. The three drug distributors will pay $21 billion over 18 years. Thousands of local governments will benefit from the settlement, which requires distributed funds to be used primarily for opioid remediation, and not restitution. The settlement came because of years of advocacy from the Plaintiff’s Executive Community (PEC), working on behalf of more than 3,300 community clients.
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THE RESPONSE // SUMMER 2022
