(Reuters) – Florida has reached more than $878 million of settlements with CVS Health Corp and three drug companies to resolve claims over their roles in fueling an opioid epidemic in the third most populous U.S. state.
CVS will pay $484 million, Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd will pay $194.8 million, Abbvie Inc’s Allergan unit will pay $134.2 million, and Endo International Plc will pay $65 million, Florida’s attorney general Ashley Moody said in a statement.
Most of the money will be spent on opioid abatement. Teva will also provide $84 million of its generic Narcan nasal spray, which can temporarily reverse the effects of opioid overdoses.
All of the companies denied wrongdoing in agreeing to settle.
The accords were announced nine days after Rhode Island reached similar settlements with Teva and Allergan that it valued at $107 million.
CVS said settling was in the best interest of all parties, and that it would vigorously defend against other lawsuits relating to opioids. Teva said it “continues to actively negotiate a national settlement” of similar claims.
Abbvie and Endo were not immediately available for comment.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel and Dietrich Knauth in New York, and Ankur Banerjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Chizu Nomiyama)
