Walgreens reaches $230M opioid settlement with San Francisco
San Francisco has reached a $230 million settlement with Walgreens Boots Alliance over its role in the city's opioid epidemic, according to a Reuters report. Reuters reported the settlement came nine months after U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer in San Francisco said Walgreens could be held liable for having "substantially contributed" to an opioid epidemic that caused "widespread harm" in the city and constituted a public nuisance.
Breyer faulted Walgreens for its "15-year failure" to properly scrutinize opioid prescriptions and flag possible misuse of these drugs. San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu called Walgreens' settlement the largest awarded to a local government in years of opioid litigation nationwideand said that Walgreens' actions "made the opioid epidemic in San Francisco worse than it otherwise would have been," and that there is "no amount of money that will bring back the lives we have lost," according to the report.
In a statement, Walgreens said it "disputes liability" and did not admit fault, but settling allows it to focus on patients, customers and communities. "Our thoughts are with those impacted by this tragic crisis," the report noted.
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Walgreens had been the only remaining defendant in San Francisco's civil lawsuit after several drugmakers and distributors reached settlements worth more than $120 million.
In his ruling last Aug. 10, following a non-jury trial, Breyer found that Walgreens suffered from a profit-driven "fill, fill, fill" culture in dispensing opioids. Breyer also found that Walgreens' San Francisco pharmacies had received more than 1.2 million opioid prescriptions with "red flags" from 2006 to 2020 yet performed due diligence on less than 5% before dispensing them. Walgreens' settlement averts a trial to determine damages, the report noted.
San Francisco had estimated it might cost $8.1 billion to abate the opioid crisis and that Walgreens was legally liable for the entire amount.
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Last May, Walgreens reached a $683 million opioid settlement with Florida, paying more than three-quarters of the $878 million that four other companies, including CVS, agreed to pay in similar, earlier settlements, the report said.