Pharmacies to pay $650.6 million to Ohio counties in opioid case
A customer looks at merchandise for sale at a Walgreens store in the Hollywood section of Los Angeles.
Christopher Lee | Bloomberg | beautiful pictures
Pharmacy operator CVS, Walmart and Walgreens must pay a total of $650.6 million to two Ohio counties to settle damages caused by the opioid pandemic, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
The order by US Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland comes after the first experimental pharmacy chain faced an opioid crisis. The pharmacy did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
A grand jury in Cleveland federal court last November concluded that pharmacy chains helped create a public nuisance in Lake and Trumbull counties in the form of an oversupply of reduced drugs. addictive pain, many of which have found their way onto the black market. Polster held a separate non-jury trial earlier this year to decide how much they must pay.
The opioid epidemic in the US has caused more than 500,000 overdose deaths over two decades, according to government figures. More than 3,300 opioid lawsuits have been filed nationwide against drug manufacturers, distributors and pharmacy chains, leading to a recent wave of settlement proposals.