Los Angeles City Attorney Mike Feuer announced on July 20 that the city of Los Angeles will potentially receive tens of millions of dollars over the next 18 years to address the opioid epidemic as part of a tentative $26-billion national settlement with distributors McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen Corporation and separately, manufacturer Janssen Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson.

In May 2018, Feuer filed a civil lawsuit against six opioid manufacturers and three distributors alleging fraudulent and negligent business practices that have fueled the local and nationwide opioid crisis. From 1999 to 2019, nearly 247,000 people in the United States died from overdoses related to prescription opioids, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“My goal is that the tens of millions of dollars we expect from this settlement for our city will target the intersection between substance abuse disorder and homelessness,” Feuer said. “We sued because no corporation, no matter how powerful, should be allowed to get away with putting profits over people’s lives. Though no amount of money can ever replace the lives lost and families shattered by opioid addiction in Los Angeles, this substantial settlement will help prevent future devastation.”

In May 2018, Feuer sued opioid distributors McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen Corporation alleging that they regularly failed in their obligation to report suspicious large and frequent orders of prescription opioid pain pills, as required by state and federal law. As a result of the alleged willful negligence, addiction and overdose rates in Los Angeles continued to rise, Feuer said.

In the same lawsuit, Feuer sued opioid manufacturers including Janssen Pharmaceuticals alleging that the companies used false and deceptive business practices to normalize aggressively prescribing opioid drugs, allowing prescriptions for pain far milder than the severe pain that the drugs were intended to treat. The companies allegedly misled doctors and patients intentionally about the appropriate uses, risks, safety and efficacy of opioids, including downplaying the high risk of addiction and exaggerating the benefits of continual use, Feuer added.

The general financial terms include a $26 billion settlement payable over 18 years. The distributors will pay approximately $21 billion, with manufacturers Johnson & Johnson contributing roughly $5 billion.

Beyond the financial terms, both the distributors and manufacturer must adhere to injunctive terms for 10 years aimed at creating more oversight and less promotion of opioids.

The CDC estimates the total economic burden of prescription opioid misuse in the nation is $78.5 billion a year, including the costs of health care, lost productivity, addiction treatment and criminal justice involvement.

For information, visit lacityattorney.org.