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Chautauqua County will officially receive between $1,439,743.06 and $2,515,248.20 for its role in the state's opioid lawsuits against Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health, Amerisource Bergen and Endo.
Letitia James, state attorney general, negotiated the $1.5 billion settlement following a March 2019 lawsuit against the various manufacturers and distributors responsible for the opioid crisis.
"For more than two decades, New Yorkers have experienced the dire and deadly effects of opioids, but today we are starting the process of delivering up to $1.5 billion to New York's 62 counties to help our communities rebuild," James said. "Today, we begin to heal New York with these funds that will help turn the tide on the opioid crisis. As we embark on a tour across the state, we are ensuring every region and every county gets financial help to recover from the devastation that opioids have inflicted on them. The funds we're infusing into New York today and going forward will be used towards combatting this epidemic with investments in prevention, treatment, and recovery. While no amount of money will ever compensate for the millions of addictions, the hundreds of thousands of deaths, or the countless families torn apart by opioids, this money will be vital in preventing future devastation."
The lawsuit Attorney General James filed in 2019 was, at the time, the nation's most extensive lawsuit against the various manufacturers and distributors of opioids. These manufacturers and distributors were responsible for heavily marketing opioids to doctors, hospitals, health care systems, and others, which led to the over prescription of the drugs across New York and the rest of the nation over the last two decades. The manufacturers named in Attorney General James' complaint included Purdue Pharma and its affiliates, as well as members of the Sackler Family (owners of Purdue) and trusts they control; Janssen Pharmaceuticals and its affiliates (including its parent company Johnson & Johnson); Mallinckrodt LLC and its affiliates; Endo Health Solutions and its affiliates; Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and its affiliates; and Allergan Finance, LLC and its affiliates. The distributors named in the complaint were McKesson Corporation, Cardinal Health Inc., Amerisource Bergen Drug Corporation, and Rochester Drug Cooperative Inc.
Last month, a settlement with Endo was announced that has already delivered $50 million to New York state and Nassau and Suffolk counties to combat the opioid crisis and remove the opioid manufacturer from New York's ongoing opioid trial.
Also, last month, a settlement that secured more than $4.5 billion -- at least $200 million of which will be earmarked for New York -- from the Sackler family and foundations that they control, ends the Sacklers' ability to manufacture opioids ever again, and will shut down Purdue Pharma was announced.
In July, a settlement with McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen that will deliver up to $1 billion to New York state to combat the opioid epidemic was announced.
In June, a settlement that ended Johnson & Johnson's sale of opioids nationwide and that will deliver $230 million to New York alone was announced. The deals with Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen have a global value of approximately $26 billion.
The cases against Mallinckrodt and Rochester Drug Cooperative are now moving separately through U.S. Bankruptcy Court.
The trial against the two remaining defendants -- Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and Allergan Finance -- is currently underway and continues in state court.
Pursuant to the new law establishing the opioid settlement fund, all funds collected by the state from opioid settlements or litigation victories will be allocated specifically for abatement efforts in communities devastated by the opioid epidemic and will not go towards the state's general fund.
Every region, and specifically every county, in the state will receive millions of dollars for prevention, treatment, and recovery programs to combat the opioid crisis.