Johnson & Johnson, drug distributors to pay tribes $590 million in opioid deal

Native American tribes in the U.S. have reached settlements over the toll of opioids totaling $590 million with drugmaker Johnson & Johnson and the country's three largest drug distribution companies, according to a court filing made Tuesday.

The filing in U.S. District Court in Cleveland lays out the details of the settlements with Johnson & Johnson and distribution companies AmerisoruceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson.

All federally recognized tribes will be able to participate in the settlements, even if they did not sue over opioids. More than 400 tribes and intertribal organizations representing about 80% of tribal citizens have sued over opioids.

Costs of addiction

Chairman Douglas Yankton of the Spirit Lake Nation in North Dakota praised the settlement. 

"American Indians have suffered the highest per capita rate of opioid overdose and are more likely than other group in the United States to die from drug-induced deaths," he said in a statement. "Given this, the dollars that will flow to Tribes under this initial settlement will help fund crucial, on-reservation, culturally appropriate opioid treatment services."

Many tribes have been hit hard by the addiction and overdose crisis across the U.S. One study cited in the settlement found that Native Americans have had the highest per capita rate of opioid overdose of any population group in 2015.

"For this reason, Tribal governments across the United States have had to spend considerable tribal funds to cover the costs of the opioid crisis, including increased costs for health care, social services, child welfare, law enforcement and other government services that Tribes provide to their citizens," the plaintiffs said in court documents. 

Under the deal, New Jersey-based Johnson & Johnson would pay $150 million over two years and the distribution companies would contribute $440 million over seven years. Each tribe could decide whether to participate.

"This initial settlement for Tribes in the national opioid litigation is a crucial first step in delivering some measure of justice to the Tribes and reservation communities across the United States that have been ground zero for the opioid epidemic," Tara Sutton, an attorney with Robins Kaplan LLP who acted as one of the negotiators for the plaintiffs' in arriving at the settlement, said in a statement. 

The newly announced deals are separate from a $75 million one the Cherokee Nation and the three distribution companies reached last year ahead of a trial.

The same four companies are nearing the final stages of approval of settlements worth $26 billion with state and local governments across the U.S. They have until later this month to decide whether enough government entities have signed on to continue in the deal.

The tribal settlements are part of more than $40 billion worth of settlements, penalties and fines rung up over the years by companies over their role in opioids.

The drugs, including both prescription drugs such as OxyContin and illicit ones including heroin and illegally made fentanyl, have been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. in the past two decades.