Opioid manufacturers Allergan and Teva will pay the city of San Francisco $34 million and provide the city $20 million worth of Narcan, the overdose reversal drug, City Attorney David Chiu announced this week.
The settlement agreement with the two companies is a part of ongoing litigation San Francisco brought on behalf of the people of the state of California against the opioid industry.
The case began in 2018, when the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office alleged that the corporate practices of opioid manufacturers, distributors, and dispensers fueled a widespread surge of opioid-related addiction and overdoses in San Francisco.
From 2006 to 2014, San Francisco County saw 163,645,704 opioids distributed — enough for 22 pills a year for every person in the county. From 2015 to 2020, San Francisco saw a 478 percent increase in opioid-related overdose deaths. During that period, approximately 25 percent of visits at San Francisco General Hospital’s Emergency Department were opioid-related.
Allergan and Teva are no longer part of the trial after the settlement agreement, and closing arguments against the remaining defendant, Walgreens, began this week.
“Opioids have wreaked havoc across our nation, and cities like San Francisco have shouldered the burden of the epidemic,” Chiu said in a statement. “Under this agreement, our city will receive significant resources to combat the opioid crisis and bring relief to our communities. We look forward to presenting closing arguments in our trial against the remaining defendant, Walgreens, to make sure they are also held accountable for the crisis they fueled.”
The remaining lawsuit against Walgreens alleges that the company over-dispensed opioids without proper due diligence and failed to identify, divert, and report suspicious orders as required by law. The trial is currently underway in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, based in San Francisco.
Through this litigation, the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office has thus far secured over $120 million in cash payments and other benefits from the opioid industry toward opioid abatement and overdose prevention in San Francisco, including $54 million from Allergan and Teva, $10 million from pharmaceutical company Endo and $60 million from opioid manufacturer Johnson & Johnson and distributors McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen.
Additionally, the city is likely to receive funding from the bankruptcy estate of Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family.
Teva responded to a request for comment saying, “Today’s settlement is another critical step forward in getting life-saving treatments to people suffering from opioid addiction. This settlement agreement is not an admission of any liability or wrongdoing, and the company will continue to pursue a nationwide settlement in the best interest of the people who benefit from the medicines that Teva provides throughout the U.S., and the world, every day.”
This trial is the fourth bellwether case in the federal opioid litigation proceedings, meaning that it indicates a trend in litigation and provides direction for plaintiffs and defendants on how they want to proceed.
The federal proceedings involve more than 3,000 American cities, towns, and counties bringing opioid manufacturers, distributors, and pharmacy chains to court for fueling the opioid epidemic.
Officials with Allergan were not immediately available to comment on the settlement.
Let’s ignore the millions of illegal Fentanyl pills coming into the country every year.
Exactly!
That was my first thought too.
Even more damage is being done with what’s flowing through the border unchecked. 100,000 Americans this year have died from that. But the Biden administration doesn’t seem to care!
Yes, and right over CA border and Newsom couldn’t care less about drugs or illegals.
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Misguided.
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No one forced opioids down users’ throats.
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What happened to personal responsibility or pursuit of the medical “professionals” who prescribed said opioids?
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Government extortion!!
The guvmint gives the public the idea the only option they have is pharmaceuticals. There are alternative methods but if you want to see big pharma execs cry just have the guvmint recommend those. Besides most of the public wants an easy way out not a lifestyle change.
Sure, they didn’t force pills down anyone’s throats. They instead lied about the addiction potential and had sales reps tell doctors their product was “less addictive” (whatever that means). This resulted in an enormous amount of prescription use that was subsequently cut off after DEA rescheduling and precipitated the fentanyl crisis we have now.
This coming from a city that hands out free syringes and allows junkies and addicts to sit on the sidewalk and shoot up without worrying about getting busted, while law-abiding citizens have to maneuver around them in order to walk by.
San Francisco was such a fun, and beautiful city, it’s depressing to watch as it’s slowly going down the toilet.
And Gavin Newsom, who ran for San Francisco mayor saying he would take care of the homeless problem 20 years ago, will be running for president and he promises to do for the country what he has done for San Francisco and California. Oh boy!
why am I suspicious that the City Attorney will be going on a very luxurious vacation soon? What is the big oil-slicked hair, Montana vacationing guy’s cut? Bet there are a few Costa Rican vacations tapped for that windfall.
What a scam by SF and governments. No more accountability and responsibility by actual people anymore. It’s always someone else’s fault. What about the people actually helped by opioids who live in chronic pain everyday! And where are the lawsuits against alcohol producers if they’re going this route?
Go watch The Pharmacist to get a better idea of what actually happened going back to the mid 90’s. It’s absolutely unbelievable.
Most of the people in the original Oxycontin ad’s from back then died of opiate overdoses by the way.
I hurt my back once and even though I had my own business I couldn’t go to work. I took Oxycodone for a month until one day my doctor asked if I would like to try an epidural. I got the epidural and three days later my back pain was gone. The next day I stopped taking Oxycodone. It was tempting to keep taking it but I didn’t. So I think getting addicted is sort of up to the individual.
There are some pain pills such as Tramadol that are addictive even if the patient is only taking one pill a day. If the patient stops taking them suddenly, they may experience serious withdrawal symptoms. The problem with some of these pain meds is that a doctor may be unaware of the side effects, this is why it’s wise to do some research on prescribed meds, and/or talk to the pharmacist.
When will they sue Communist China and Mexico for the Fentanyl epidemic and thousands of deaths?
Amen
What about all the crap coming over the boarder because of the failed Joe Biden administration policy’s?
Opioids didn’t start with Biden’s presidency. Plenty of illegal drugs have been coming over the border during prior administrations…including the former president’s. They supply will continue until the demand stops. Unfortunately, these drugs are so addictive, all too often the demand stops at death.
But under Biden’s direction it’s gotten a lot worst than any other president. And he does nothing about it.
I’d love to see the data to back this up. Especially, “And he does nothing about it”.
Clearly opioid overdosing is a lucrative source of income for the City: 120 million? 54 million?
Where the incentive to prevent the ongoing epidemic?
Settlement? Don’t you mean profit profit sharing agreement ??? Due to the fact that San Francisco encourages open air drug dens, normalizing this despicable behavior to a whole new market of future consumers in our children. San Francisco is a Beautiful city fowled by years and years of leftist policies that has destroyed the quality of life for anyone who even visits. Concord is quickly following suit.
Welcome to a society of addicts, if it ain’t drugs, it’s alcohol. Also addicted to making excuses for the fact so many can’t control their behavior and don’t even want to try to take any responsibility for the fact they create they own crises. Might as well add the addiction to being a victim as well.