Teva may pay as much as $3.6 billion in opioid settlement

(Reuters) — Teva Pharmaceutical Industries said Wednesday it was bracing to pay as much as $3.6 billion in cash and medicine to settle lawsuits alleging it was one of a number of drug-makers and distributors that fueled the U.S. opioid epidemic.

Israel-based Teva, the world’s largest generic drug-maker, this week reached a settlement worth $225 million with Texas, comprising $150 million in cash and $75 million in products.

CEO Kåre Schultz told Reuters that based on that settlement, as well as a proposed nationwide settlement with three large drug distributors and drug-maker Johnson & Johnson worth $26 billion, Teva would likely pay $2.7 billion to $3.6 billion spread over 15 years. Under that formula, the cash portion for Teva would likely amount to about $1.8 billion to $2.4 billion.

“The Texas model is a good one because it satisfies the need for cash … while still maintaining a significant portion of the settlement as products that really can help the people suffering from substance abuse,” he said after the company issued fourth-quarter profit that beat estimates.

Mr. Schultz said he was confident a deal could be reached in the next year.

“It’s difficult to predict when there might be a breakthrough,” he said, but the Texas settlement is a “good framework to use nationwide.”

Teva previously settled with Oklahoma and Louisiana and has not admitted any wrongdoing. It has long sought to resolve the thousands of opioid lawsuits by states, counties and municipalities it faces, offering in 2019 to donate $23 billion in opioid addiction treatment drugs and to pay $250 million over 10 years. But lawyers for some of the plaintiffs had questioned the true value of the drugs.

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