Baltimore secures $402.5 million from Walgreens in opioid settlement

BALTIMORE, MD—The city of Baltimore has reached a settlement with Walgreens of $402.5 million as part of its ongoing litigation against opioid distributors and manufacturers.

The settlement, announced this week, is the fifth to date stemming from the city’s six-year legal case, which alleges the companies fueled the opioid epidemic with downplaying the risk of painkiller medications and marketing them recklessly.

With its latest settlement, Baltimore City has now recovered $402.5 million from opioid defendants. The case against the remaining three defendants – Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen – is scheduled to go to trial next week.

“We are proud of our efforts to bring these companies to justice over the past several years,” Mayor Brandon Scott said in a statement. “The reality is, addressing the opioid epidemic requires an enormous amount of resources and through this litigation, our outside counsel and Law Department have begun to provide that.”

As part of the agreement, Walgreens has requested the city delay announcing the specific terms of the settlement for 30 days. The settlement, once finalized, is expected to be used to support and grow the work already being done to tackle the opioid epidemic, the city said.

“As we approach the beginning of trial, it is time to finish the job against the remaining defendants and begin using this money to support and grow the work we’ve already been doing to tackle the opioid epidemic where it can do the most good,” Mayor Scott said.

The city was one of dozens of local, state, and federal government agencies and law enforcement providers who filed a lawsuit against the opioid distributors and manufacturers in 2018. The City’s case against the opioid distributors and manufacturers alleges they caused the worst opioid epidemic in the nation.

This article was written with the assistance of AI and reviewed by a human editor.

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