New York Attorney General Letitia James on Thursday announced eight pharmaceutical companies will pay approximately $720 million for their role in manufacturing opioid pills that fueled the ongoing nationwide epidemic of opioid addictions. These funds will help deliver critical resources to communities throughout New York and the nation to combat the opioid crisis.
New York will receive up to $38.7 million from the eight companies. To date, Attorney General James has secured more than $3 billion to support New York opioid abatement, treatment and prevention efforts.
“For years, drug companies prioritized profits at the expense of struggling New Yorkers who became trapped in deadly opioid addictions,” said Attorney General James. “While communities throughout our state continue to suffer from the opioid crisis, these resources will help us begin to heal. I will continue to work to hold those responsible for the opioid crisis accountable and ensure that New Yorkers who have been most affected get the support they need.”
The eight companies and the total amounts they will pay in funding to address the opioid crisis are:
- Mylan (now part of Viatris) will pay $284,447,916 over nine years;
- Hikma will pay $95,818,293 over one to four years;
- Amneal will pay $71,751,010 over 10 years;
- Apotex will pay $63,682,369 in a single year;
- Indivior will pay $38,022,450 over four years;
- Sun will pay $30,992,087 in one to four years;
- Alvogen will pay $18,680,162 in a single year; and
- Zydus will pay $14,859,220 in a single year.
Payments will begin as early as 2026. The eight companies will also provide $14 million in additional funding, and Mylan, Hikma, Amneal and Indivior will provide opioid addiction treatment medications or cash in lieu of this product to participating states valued at approximately $86 million.
All companies besides Indivior will be prohibited from promoting or marketing opioids and opioid products and making or selling any product that contains more than 40 mg of oxycodone per pill. They must also put in place a monitoring and reporting system for suspicious orders. Indivior will not manufacture or sell opioid products for the next 10 years, but it will be able to continue marketing and selling medications to treat opioid addiction.
For New York, the settlement negotiations were led by Special Counsel Monica Hanna and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Conrad with the assistance of the Deputy Director of Research and Analytics Gautam Sisodia and Data Scientist Kenneth Morales, under the supervision of First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy. In addition to New York, the settlements were negotiated by the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Illinois, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia.
Attorney General James is a national leader in holding accountable the companies that fueled the opioid crisis and securing resources to help combat the epidemic of addictions and overdoses.
To date, Attorney General James has secured more than $3 billion to support New York opioid abatement, treatment, and prevention efforts from companies including Purdue, Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Mallinckrodt, Allergan, Endo, McKesson, Cardinal Health and AmerisourceBergen. Attorney General James has also led multistate coalitions in reaching settlements for billions of dollars with CVS, Walgreens and Walmart for their roles in failing to properly regulate opioid prescriptions.
Additionally, Attorney General James and a bipartisan coalition of states secured settlements with consulting firm McKinsey & Company and the marketing firm Publicis Health for their role in fueling the opioid crisis.
