After a high-profile trial loss in December, Teva Pharmaceuticals has reached a deal to put at another major opioid lawsuit to bed.
Teva has agreed to pay Texas $150 million to settle claims that it helped fuel the state’s opioid epidemic. Under the agreement, struck with the Attorney General of Texas, Teva will pay the sum over 15 years. The generics giant will also provide supplies of the opioid overdose reversal drug Narcan.
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“While the settlement includes no admission of wrongdoing by Teva or its affiliates, it remains in the best interest of Teva to put these cases behind us and continue to focus on the patients we serve every day,” Kåre Schultz, president and CEO of Teva, said in a statement.
The news comes shortly after a New York jury found the company liable for its role in the state’s opioid crisis. Most of the defendants in that case chose to settle, with Johnson & Johnson reaching a deal worth up to $263 million to resolve the charges.
Teva isn’t taking the New York verdict lying down, however. The company has filed for mistrial, which essentially comes down to a disagreement over closing remarks, CEO Schultz said last month at the 2022 JP Morgan Healthcare Conference. The company hopes to land a new trial, but if things don’t pan out, Teva will appeal the verdict, the CEO said.
Teva is also in talks with attorney generals and plaintiff lawyers about a nationwide settlement agreement, Schultz said at JPM. The company is “hopeful” that it will be able to reach such an agreement “in the coming year,” he added.
Drugmakers have charted a few wins amid the ongoing opioid litigation odyssey. In November, a California judge ruled in favor of Johnson & Johnson, AbbVie, Teva and Endo, ruling that the plaintiffs “failed to provide an actionable public nuisance.” The plaintiffs had pursued $50 billion in the lawsuit.
