Walgreens Boots Alliance reaches $500M opioid settlement with New Mexico
Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay $500 million to New Mexico to settle claims that its pharmacies helped fuel opioid addiction in the state by failing to stop illegal pill sales, according to a Reuters report, that cited an announcement by lawyers for the state.
The report noted that the settlement, the largest obtained by New Mexico against a single company over opioids, came after a non-jury trial last year in the state's lawsuit against the company. The judge overseeing that trial had not yet ruled on the state's claims.
“We are confident that this record settlement positions New Mexico to turn the tide on this deadly epidemic," Mark Pifko, a lawyer for the state, said in a statement.
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New Mexico has now settled all of its major opioid-related lawsuits, recovering more than $1 billion including Friday's deal, Pifko said.
Walgreens did not admit wrongdoing in the settlement. A spokesperson for the company declined to comment on the settlement.
New Mexico's lawsuit against Walgreens was one of more than 3,300 filed by state and local governments accusing pharmacies and distributors of ignoring red flags that opioids were being diverted to the black market, and drugmakers of downplaying the risks of the addictive pain drugs, per the report.
[Read more: Walgreens reaches $230M opioid settlement with San Francisco]
The litigation has resulted in more than $50 billion in settlements, including a $5.7 billion nationwide deal between states and Walgreens in which New Mexico did not take part, the report said.