Teva Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay the state of Texas $150 million and provide $75 million in free naloxone in exchange for settling all claims in the state related to the company’s alleged role in the opioid epidemic.
According to the settlement agreement, Teva will pay Texas $150 million in set installments over the next 15 years. This payment plan begins with a $50 million lump sum payment within 15 days of the agreement being signed, followed by 11 years of $5 million annual payments beginning in 2023, and 3 years of $15 million payments.
In addition to paying $150 million to the Texas Qualified Settlement Fund, Teva is also bound to provide the state with up to $75 million in Naloxone Hydrochloride Nasal Spray, a lifesaving drug that reverses opioid overdoses, over the next 10 years.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reportedly called the settlement “another win for Texas,” according to Law360. Paxton stated that “Pharmaceutical companies must be held accountable for their role in this devastating epidemic.”
Despite Paxton’s claims of accountability, the settlement does not include an admission of wrongdoing from Teva. According to Teva CEO Kåre Schultz, the settlement was simply a way to put these cases behind the company, which he felt was best for the future of Teva.
In exchange for an agreement to pay $150 million over the next 15 years, Teva, which took in over $15 billion in 2021 alone, will receive extensive legal protections. According to the settlement, Teva will be protected from “any actual or alleged act, failure to act, negligence, statement, error, omission, breach of any duty, conduct, event, transaction, agreement, misstatement, misleading statement or other activity of any kind whatsoever from the beginning of time through the date of execution of this Agreement” related to any aspect of their development, marketing, distribution, or packaging of opioids.
This settlement will provide Texans with millions of dollars to rebuild their communities and treat opioid addiction. As a compromise, Teva will no longer face any opioid-related charges in the state of Texas.