May 17, 2023
Walgreens to Pay $230 Million in San Francisco Opioid Settlement
, Bloomberg News
(Bloomberg) -- Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. has agreed to pay $230 million to resolve claims by San Francisco that the pharmacy owner mishandled opioid painkillers.
San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced the settlement Wednesday nine months after a federal judge found Walgreens liable for dispensing hundreds of thousands of red-flag prescriptions that resulted in overdoses, death, and city streets being littered with drug paraphernalia.
Attorneys for the city said in October that Walgreens owes $8.1 billion over 15 years for costs to mend damage from the opioid crisis.
Read More: Walgreens Liable for Opioid-Fueled Nuisance in San Francisco
More than 3,000 state and local governments have sued opioid makers, distributors and sellers seeking compensation for billions of tax dollars spent battling the public-health crisis spawned by the painkillers. Total recoveries across the US are expected to exceed $50 billion once all payments are made.
The case is City and County of San Francisco v. Purdue Pharma L.P., US District Court, Northern District of California (San Francisco).
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