State Announces Settlement In Teva Opioid Lawsuit

The Rhode Island Attorney General's Office says the state is concluding its principal litigation against the opioid industry. A new settlement with the drugmakers Teva and Allergan will pay twenty-eight-point-five million dollars and free addiction and overdose treatment. A.G. Peter Neronha says Teva is agreeing to supply enough Naloxone to meet projected demand for the next decade.

Rhode Island will also receive 67,000 30-pill bottles of the treatment drug Suboxone in various doses over the next 10 years at no cost, bringing the combined settlement value up to approximately $107 million to combat the opioid epidemic according to the settlement.

“While no amount of money will ever be enough to undo the harm suffered by Rhode Islanders throughout the ongoing opioid epidemic, these additional recoveries will further support public health efforts to respond to the challenges brought on by this epidemic, which have grown much worse during the Covid-19 pandemic,” said Attorney General Neronha. “And now, with the agreement of Teva to supply the state with enough Naloxone to meet the projected demand, at no cost for the next 10 years, we can use these hard-gained monetary recoveries for other purposes. City and town leaders have been important partners in this litigation, and I look forward to working with them to deliver these additional resources to the people they serve.”

In total, Neronha negotiated over two-hundred-fifty-million dollars for opioid treatment, rescue, prevention and recovery in Rhode Island.

(Photo by GEORGE FREY/AFP via Getty Images)