CVS Health Corp., Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. and Walmart Inc. have tentatively agreed to pay more than $12 billion to resolve thousands of state and local government lawsuits accusing the chains of mishandling opioid painkillers, according to people familiar with the matter.
The proposed settlement — potentially one of the last big accords spawned by more than five years of litigation over the highly addictive painkillers — calls for CVS to pay $4.9 billion, Walgreens to pay at least $4 billion and Walmart to pay $3 billion, according to the people, who asked not to be identified because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the tentative deal.
The settlement won’t be finalized until enough states, counties and cities agree to it, the people said. That’s the way a $26 billion opioid accord involving Johnson & Johnson and the three largest U.S. drug distributors was structured in 2021.
