LAS VEGAS (AP) 鈥� The state of Nevada has reached a $285 million settlement with Walgreens regarding the pharmacy chain's role in , the state's top lawyer announced Wednesday.
The last in a series of with pharmaceutical companies, retailers and others, it pushes Nevada's total anticipated payments stemming from opioid claims to $1.1 billion, state Attorney General Aaron Ford's office said in a news release. Nevada is among numerous states that have reached settlements now totaling more than $50 billion nationwide.
鈥淲hen I first took office as attorney general, I made it clear that seeking justice for those harmed by the opioid epidemic was one of my top priorities,鈥� Ford said.
Walgreens had no comment on the settlement, a company spokesman said in an email to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Walgreens is the final defendant named in a lawsuit the state filed in 2019, Ford's office said.
The $285 million settlement will be paid over 15 years and will be split between the state and the signatories of the One Nevada Agreement, a coalition of Nevada county and city governments, Ford said.
The state will retain about $98.1 million, which will be placed in a fund that was created to help finance opioid recovery programs through the state Department of Health and Human Services. The coalition will receive about $116.2 million.
The state reached a $193 million agreement with Teva Pharmaceuticals in June and a $152 million deal with CVS in May.
Much of the more than $50 billion obtained through settlements nationwide is to be used to deal with an overdose crisis linked to more than 100,000 deaths a year in the U.S.
Last year, CVS agreed to pay state and local governments to settle lawsuits over the toll of opioids. But Nevada did not join in that litigation in order to pursue the single-state settlement, Ford spokesperson John Sadler said.
Nevada joined another multistate settlement with three of the nation's largest opioid manufacturers in April 2022 totaling $232 million over nearly two decades.
The Associated Press
