LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Kentucky Attorney General Daniel Cameron announced a $460 million settlement between the commonwealth and pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson, as well as other opioid distributors, for what he says is their role in fueling the state's opioid epidemic.
That's part of a larger $26 billion settlement shared by several states.
"Today's announcement brings hope and help in the fight against the opioid epidemic," Cameron said. "No state was hit harder than Kentucky."
Cameron and other attorneys general have had the pharmaceuticals in the crosshairs for some time. The deal calls for the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson to pay up to $5 billion, in addition to billions more from the major national drug distribution companies. AmerisourceBergen and Cardinal Health are each to contribute $6.4 billion. McKesson is to pay $7.9 billion.
States -- except West Virginia, which has already settled with the companies -- will have 30 days to approve the agreements. After that, local governments will have four months to sign on. Each company will decide whether enough jurisdictions agree to the deal to move ahead with it.
The deal would be part of the ongoing effort to address the nationwide opioid addiction and overdose crisis. Prescription drugs and illegal ones like heroin and illicitly produced fentanyl have been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. since 2000. The number of cases reached a record high in 2020.
If approved, the settlement will likely be the largest of many in the opioid litigation playing out nationwide. It's expected to bring more than $23 billion to abatement and mitigation efforts to help get treatment for people who are addicted along with other programs to address the crisis. The money would come in 18 annual payments, with the biggest amounts in the next several years.
Cameron says there is no schedule for the funds to be released -- and they won't be paid all at once -- but said the commonwealth plans to use the money to fund opioid treatment and prevention programs.
"There's hardly a family anywhere in the commonwealth that has been immune to the scourge of opioids," Cameron told reporters, adding that today's announcement, "signals to each and every Kentuckian that we will always be in their corner.
"This fight doesn't end today."
He added that, if the settlement isn't approved, he would "haul" the companies into circuit courtrooms all over the commonwealth for civil lawsuits.
"Justice will ultimately be served," he said.
Last year, there were a record 93,000 fatal overdoses from all drugs in the U.S. The majority of them involved fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid that has medical uses but is also produced illicitly.
Copyright 2021 by WDRB Media. The Associated Press contributed to this report. All rights reserved.
