Endo International Plc agreed to an $11 million settlement to avoid going to trial in the first federal court cases targeting opioid makers and distributors over the public-health crisis caused by the painkillers, Bloomberg News reported. Endo said yesterday that it will pay $10 million and donate $1 million of diabetes and allergy drugs to resolve claims by two Ohio municipalities that the company helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic by illegally marketing its Opana painkiller. The deal resolves only two cases set for trial in October and leaves intact lawsuits against Endo filed by more than 2,000 local governments over its handling of Opana. The October trial will still proceed against other drugmakers. Endo said yesterday that it will pay $10 million and donate $1 million of diabetes and allergy drugs to resolve claims by two Ohio municipalities that the company helped fuel the U.S. opioid epidemic by illegally marketing its Opana painkiller. The deal resolves only two cases set for trial in October and leaves intact lawsuits against Endo filed by more than 2,000 local governments over its handling of Opana. The October trial will still proceed against other drugmakers. The settlements come as a judge in Oklahoma is set to rule next week on whether Johnson & Johnson must pay as much as $17 billion to reimburse the state for tax dollars spent fighting the opioid epidemic. The case is the first designed to hold a drugmaker liable for the fallout from opioid addiction and overdoses.
