Opioid Litigation Update: $26B Deal That Lets Big Pharma Off the Hook

After years of litigation and massive jury verdicts, three firms are eyeing an end to lawsuits over their role in the opioid epidemic.

Johnson & Johnson and the drug distributors Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson have reached a $26 billion deal with state attorneys general that would release the companies from all civil liability in the opioid epidemic, according to reporting from the New York Times.

The statement announcing the deal was released by attorneys general from North Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Delaware, Louisiana, Tennessee and Connecticut in late July.