Pharmaceutical companies and pharmacies agree to $26 billion settlement for role in opioid epidemic

Teva Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, CVS, and Walgreens have finalized a $17.3 billion deal to settle accusations by state governments that they contributed to the opioid crisis in the US.
States and local governments will receive $18.75 billion from pharmacy chains and drug manufacturers to settle lawsuits over their roles in flooding the country with painkillers.
New Mexico has settled with Walgreens for $500 million over the pharmacy chain’s role in distributing highly addictive prescription painkillers.
Most of the settlement money from the opioid litigation is required to be used to fight the crisis, which has been linked to more than 560,000 deaths in the U.S. over the past two decades, including more than 70,000 a year recently.
Most of the deaths have been connected to fentanyl and other illicit synthetic opioids, not prescription painkillers, according to data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.