Walmart Enters Settlement Agreement Over Opioid Lawsuits, Joining CVS and Walgreens
Walmart has agreed to become part of a nationwide opioid settlement framework to substantially resolve all opioid lawsuits and potential lawsuits by state, local, and tribal governments — if all conditions are satisfied, the company said. Walmart has earmarked the settlement agreement for $3.1 billion.
Walmart will be joining CVS and Walgreens, who have agreed to pay around $5 billion each to settle multiple opioid-related lawsuits with U.S. states, local governments and tribes.
“Walmart believes the settlement framework is in the best interest of all parties and will provide significant aid to communities across the country in the fight against the opioid crisis,” the company said.
Walmart said its agreement to be part of the settlement framework is not an admission of wrongdoing.
Most of the drugmakers that produced the most opioids and the biggest drug distribution companies have already reached settlements. With the largest pharmacies now settling, it represents a shift in the opioid litigation saga. For years, the question was whether companies would be held accountable for an overdose crisis that a flood of prescription drugs helped spark.
With the crisis still raging, the focus now is on how the settlement dollars — now totaling more than $50 billion — will be used and whether they will help curtail record numbers of overdose deaths, even as prescription drugs have become a relatively small portion of the epidemic.
Bentonville, Arkansas-based Walmart said in a statement that it “strongly disputes" allegations in lawsuits from state and local governments that its pharmacies improperly filled prescriptions for the powerful prescription painkillers. The company does not admit liability with the settlement, which would represent about 2% of its quarterly revenue.
November 16, 2022
