Johnson & Johnson and Distributors Settlements

In August 2021, Attorney General Mark Brnovich announced his office has conditionally signed on to a proposed $26 billion national settlement with Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen – the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors – and Johnson & Johnson, which manufactured and marketed opioids. Final details, including a critical mass of states and political subdivisions nationally, are necessary to finalize the settlement.

If finalized, Arizona as a whole would receive up to $549 million from the settlement and the money would be used for opioid treatment, prevention, and education, in compliance with the One Arizona Plan, described above. Read more on the One Arizona Plan.

Funding Overview:

  • Nationally, the three distributors (Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen) collectively will pay up to $21 billion over 18 years.
  • Nationally, Johnson & Johnson will pay up to $5 billion over nine years with up to $3.7 billion paid during the first three years.
  • The total funding distributed will be determined by the overall degree of participation by both litigating and non-litigating state and local governments.
  • After attorneys’ fees and costs, the money is to be spent on opioid treatment and prevention.
  • Arizona’s share of the national funding has been determined by an agreement among the states using a formula that takes into account the impact of the crisis on the state and the population of the state.

Injunctive Relief Overview:

  • The 10-year agreement also requires Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen to:
    • Establish a centralized independent clearinghouse to provide all three distributors and state regulators with aggregated data and analytics about where drugs are going and how often, eliminating blind spots in the current systems used by distributors.
    • Use data-driven systems to detect suspicious opioid orders from customer pharmacies.
    • Terminate customer pharmacies’ ability to receive shipments, and report those companies to state regulators, when they show certain signs of diversion.
    • Prohibit shipping of and report suspicious opioid orders.
    • Prohibit sales staff from influencing decisions related to identifying suspicious opioid orders.
    • Require senior corporate officials to engage in regular oversight of anti-diversion efforts.
  • The 10-year agreement requires Johnson & Johnson to:
    • Stop selling opioids.
    • Not fund or provide grants to third parties for promoting opioids.
    • Not lobby on activities related to opioids.
    • Share clinical trial data under the Yale University Open Data Access Project.

In order for the multistate settlement to be finalized, a critical mass of participating states and local governments will need to sign on.

The text of the full proposed Johnson & Johnson and Distributors’ settlements can be found on the settlement administrator’s website.

Important information for counties, cities, and towns: The national settlement administrator will mail additional information and voting instructions on the proposed Johnson & Johnson and Distributors settlements to Arizona counties, cities, and towns beginning the week of September 20, 2021.

Other AGO Opioids Actions

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