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Ohio reaches $260 million settlement against opioid manufacturer and distributors

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Hours before going to trial in Ohio, an opioid drug manufacturer and several drug distributors reached what’s being called a landmark settlement.

Cuyahoga County lawyer Hunter Shkolnik says the settlement amounts to $260 million, reports USA Today. Separately, Johnson & Johnson settled previously with Cuyahoga and Summit counties in Ohio for $20.4 million, and distributor Henry Schein settled for $1.25 million.

The Ohio counties sued Teva Pharmaceuticals along with four distributors and the Walgreen’s drug store chain claiming their practices contributed to the opioid crises that has claimed some 400,000 lives since 2000, the paper said.

The trial would have been the first federal proceeding against a manufacturer of highly addictive opioid pain relievers.

More than 2,400 cities and counties across the nation have sued opioid drug companies. A settlement of $48 billion in cash and treatments was rejected over distribution issues last week by lawyers representing the cities and counties.

“We’re disappointed that the cities and counties refused to go along with that deal,” North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein said Friday. “This would have helped the entire nation, not just a few counties, not just a few cities.”

The Sackler family, which owns Perdue Pharma, maker of OxyContin, came to a tentative settlement with the group for $3 billion in September. That settlement has yet to be finalized, with more than 20 state attorneys general rejecting it as too low.

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