Baltimore reaches $152.5 million settlement with Cardinal Health over opioid crisis, $242.5 million in total recoveries
BALTIMORE-- Baltimore reached a 152.5 million settlement with Cardinal Health to resolve the city's claims against Cardinal for its role in fueling the city's ongoing opioid crisis, Mayor Brandon Scott announced Friday.
The deal with Cardinal is the third settlement the city announced this year, coming after a $45 million settlement with Allergan in June, and a $45 million settlement with CVS last week.
In total, the city has received $242.5 million in recoveries, with a trial to continue on September 16 against the five remaining companies who played a role in what the city describes as the worst opioid epidemic in the nation: Johnson & Johnson, McKesson, AmerisourceBergen (now Cencora), Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Walgreens.
Cardinal Health and three other companies (McKesson, AmerisourceBergen, and Johnson & Johnson) reached a global settlement in 2021, with nearly every other state, county, and city in America. Baltimore would have received less than $70 million spread over two decades if it had joined that settlement.
However, under this settlement, with just one of those four defendants, the city has received over twice that amount, deliverable within just four months. The city has now received more than double the total amount it would have received from all available global settlements with any opioid defendant.
"The city and our extraordinary outside counsel built an overwhelming case against the opioid companies, and we have recovered vastly more resources than we would have under the global settlements. As our city and partners continue our daily work combatting the impacts of Baltimore's opioid epidemic that these manufacturers and distributors caused, the resources delivered by these settlements will have a transformative impact on our work," Mayor Brandon Scott said.
Cardinal will pay the entire $152.5 million settlement amount this year.
The funds will be used "solely for opioid remediation". Various substance-use treatment centers and organizations will be provided with recovery funds: $5 million for Tuerk House, Inc., $5 million for Helping Up Mission; $3 million for Baltimore Safe Haven; $3 million for HOPE Safe Haven; $2 million for More Than a Shop; $1 million for Marian House; and $1 million for Turnaround Tuesday.
To read the full story visit WJZ's news affiliate, The Baltimore Banner.