Teva agrees to pay $126 million to US hospitals over opioids
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[August 04, 2023]
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) - Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd has agreed to pay up to
$126 million to U.S. hospitals over 18 years to settle claims that its
marketing of opioid drugs raised the hospitals' operating costs.
As part of the proposed settlement, disclosed in Teva's quarterly
earnings statement Wednesday, the Israel-based drugmaker also agreed to
supply $49 million of the anti-overdose drug naloxone.
Teva said it had been sued by about 500 U.S. hospitals and other health
care providers over opioids, and that the settlement would only be
finalized if the company was satisfied that enough hospitals agreed to
take part.
Teva did not say which hospitals were involved in the proposed
settlement, and a spokesperson for the company did not immediately
respond to a request for comment. A lawyer representing hospitals in
mass tort litigation over opioids in Ohio federal court could not
immediately be reached for comment.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/04/images/ads/current/danieleeten_sda_FAIR_2023.png)
Litigation against drugmakers, pharmacies and distributors over opioids,
mostly brought by state, local and Native American tribal governments,
has already resulted in more than $50 billion in total settlements,
including a $4.35 billion settlement Teva reached last year.
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![](../images/080423PIX/health45.jpg)
The logo of Teva Pharmaceutical
Industries is seen in Tel Aviv, Israel February 19, 2019.
REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2023/Aug/04/images/ads/current/graue_lda_preowned_073123.jpg) The lawsuits claim that drugmakers
downplayed the drugs' risks and that distributors and pharmacies
failed to prevent them from being diverted onto the illegal market.
Teva sells the brand-name fentanyl-based drug Fentora, used to treat
breakthrough cancer pain, and previously made a similar drug called
Actiq. It also makes generic opioid drugs.
More than 564,000 people died from opioid overdoses in the United
States in the period from 1999 to 2020, and overdose deaths have
risen further since then, according to data from the U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention.
(Reporting by Brendan Pierson in New York; Editing by David
Gregorio)
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