| RICHMOND (February 26, 2020) – Attorney General Mark R. Herring today announced a global settlement framework agreement between a bipartisan coalition of 40 state attorneys general and Mallinckrodt (MNK), its subsidiaries, and certain other affiliates. As part of the settlement, MNK has agreed to pay $1.6 billion in cash to a trust that will cover the costs of opioid addiction treatment and related efforts, with the potential for increased payment to the trust. MNK also agrees that its future generics opioid business will be subject to stringent injunctive relief that, among other things, will prevent marketing and ensure systems are in place to prevent diversion. MNK is currently the largest generic opioid manufacturer in the United States.
“The roots of the opioid crisis began in the boardrooms and marketing offices of pharmaceutical companies like Mallinckrodt and ran straight into Americans’ medicine cabinets,” said Attorney General Herring. “Families across Virginia and around the country have been torn apart by this devastating epidemic. This settlement is just another step in making sure that opioid manufacturers are held accountable for the role that they played in creating and prolonging this crisis.”
This settlement comes as part of a bipartisan, multistate effort to investigate and hold opioid manufacturers and distributors accountable for their role in the opioid crisis.
Attorney General Herring has filed suit against Purdue Pharma and members of the Sackler Family, as well as fentanyl manufacturers Teva and Cephalon as part of his ongoing efforts to hold pharmaceutical companies accountable for the role they played in creating and prolonging the opioid crisis.
The heroin and prescription opioid epidemic has been a top priority for Attorney General Herring. He and his team continue to attack the problem with a multifaceted approach that includes enforcement, education, prevention, and legislation to encourage reporting of overdoses in progress, expand the availability of naloxone, and expand access to the Prescription Monitoring Program. He has supported federal efforts to improve the availability of treatment and recovery resources and made prescription drug disposal kits available across the Commonwealth. |
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