Pharmaceutical Companies Settle Historic Court Case

BY SCOTTY HALL – In the United States’ previous drug epidemics, we blamed the crack dealers, the meth labs, and shunned those who fell victim to the allure of ever-present drugs. New research and cultural shifts have begun to change our attitudes toward addiction, but misplaced blame is still found today as we (somewhat rightfully) point to scapegoats, such as the cartels with their poppy fields and fentanyl as the cause of the ongoing opioid crisis. Criminals have indeed contributed to this widespread addiction, but they essentially just catered to Americans’ existing demand for opiates. Our current epidemic was first ushered in through the completely legal efforts of the pharmaceutical industry which continuously pushed opioid pain medications in the 1990s in spite of their addictive nature and inherent health risks. This is a well-documented and outrageously irresponsible tactic, and gives the public and government the historically unique opportunity to identify and punish the party responsible for a national crisis. However,  relatively little has been done in response.

Very recently, four pharmaceutical companies were scheduled for federal trial. They were facing lawsuits from Summit and Cuyahoga counties in Ohio who were seeking retribution for the mass manufacturing and reckless distribution of the opioid painkillers that had crippled communities throughout the state. This was to be the very first federal trial addressing pharmaceutical companies’ roles in the opioid epidemic, but a settlement was reached just hours before the trial, keeping the corporations out of court. AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, McKesson, and Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay a total of $260 million to the aforementioned Ohio counties to be used for drug rehabilitation and opioid treatment. The companies also previously attempted to settle all of the other some 2,500 lawsuits they were facing with a total payout of $48 billion, but this offer was rejected en masse by the plaintiffs.

The payment of $260 million might appear to be a burdensome price for the companies involved, but a look at their massive assets offers a different perspective. In 2018, McKesson alone reported an annual revenue of $208.357 billion. The total settlement accounted for just 0.05 percent of the combined revenue of all four companies in 2018, which was over 510 billion dollars. For context, this total is higher than the Gross Domestic Product of 161 nations, including Norway, Israel, New Zealand, and South Africa. If these companies combined were a country, they would come in at approximately 25th on the world GDP ranking, just below Belgium and closely surpassing Thailand. 

This settlement is far from a victory for the communities that have been victimized by the predatory tactics of the opioid-producing pharmaceutical industry. The payout is by no means an adequate deterrent for these industry giants, and is just the latest entry in a long and disappointing history of pharmaceutical companies paying meager settlements and then continuing to manufacture and aggressively market opioid painkillers. Agreeing to settle out of court is not an admission of guilt, and all four of the corporations involved in the Ohio case maintain that they are not responsible for the damage sustained in the two counties. There is currently nothing forcing them to acknowledge their misconduct, nothing to make them alter their operations, and nothing to make them pay a more consequential sum. Until individuals and governments refuse to settle with pharmaceutical companies and instead burden them with messy and revealing court cases, this industry will continue to use its funds and influence to evade compensation and responsibility for the part it played in the ruin of countless lives.

Editor: Courteney Malin