Walmart proposed a $3.1 billion legal settlement on Tuesday over the toll of powerful prescription opioids sold at its pharmacies, becoming the latest major drug industry player to promise major support to state, local and tribal governments still grappling with a crisis in overdose deaths.
The retail giant's announcement follows similar proposals on Nov. 2 from the two largest U.S. pharmacy chains, CVS Health and Walgreen Co., which each said they would pay about $5 billion.
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein — and attorneys-general in more than a dozen other states –— negotiated the settlement. 43 states need to sign on by the end of this year for it take effect.
When that happens, Stein says North Carolina will get $89 million to help people recovering from opioid addiction.
“These meaningful resources will help people suffering from opioid addiction get the treatment and recovery services they need,” Stein said in a tweet. “And the changes to the way pharmacies operate will ensure that this never happens again.”
NC’s share is $89 million! It’s on top of the $750M we’ve already won that is already being deployed across NC for treatment, recovery, harm reduction & prevention. I also want to thank Daniel Mosteller, our consumer team & others at NCDOJ for their great work on this case. 5/5
— Josh Stein (@JoshStein_) November 15, 2022
Walmart has agreed to do more to prevent fraudulent prescriptions.
But, in a statement, the company says it disagrees with assertions that its pharmacies played a role in fueling the opioid crisis. It also admits no wrongdoing.
The company does not admit liability with the settlement, which would represent about 2% of its quarterly revenue.
“Walmart believes the settlement framework is in the best interest of all parties and will provide significant aid to communities across the country in the fight against the opioid crisis, with aid reaching state and local governments faster than any other nationwide opioid settlement to date,” the company said in a statement.
Some government lawyers suggested Walmart has acted more responsibly than other pharmacies when it came to opioids.
“Although Walmart filled significantly fewer prescriptions for opioids then CVS or Walgreens, since 2018 Walmart has been the most proactive in trying to monitor and control prescription opioid diversion attempted through its pharmacies,” Nebraska Attorney General Doug Peterson said in a statement.
The deals are the product of negotiations with a group of state attorneys general, but they are not final. The CVS and Walgreens deals would have to be accepted first by a critical mass of state and local governments before they are completed.
Most of the drugmakers that produced the most opioids and the biggest drug distribution companies have already reached settlements. With the largest pharmacies now settling, it represents a shift in the opioid litigation saga. For years, the question was whether companies would be held accountable for an overdose crisis that a flood of prescription drugs helped spark.
With the crisis still raging, the focus now is on how the settlement dollars — now totaling more than $50 billion — will be used and whether they will help curtail record numbers of overdose deaths, even as prescription drugs have become a relatively small portion of the epidemic.
