California to receive $470 million from CVS in opioid settlement

California is set to receive about $470 million from a multistate settlement with CVS over allegations that the pharmacy chain contributed to the country’s opioid crisis, the California attorney general’s office announced Tuesday. the state.

Last year, CVS Health and Walgreens agreed to pay about $5 billion each to settle a series of lawsuits filed by state and local governments accusing the chains of filling prescriptions that should have been flagged as inappropriate, helping to fueling an epidemic that has killed more than half a million Americans over the past 20 years.

Funds were to be distributed among participating states after approving agreements with each company.

“Today we start the year with another victory in our fight to hold corporate giants accountable for their role in fueling the opioid crisis,” California Atty said. General Rob Bonta said in a statement Tuesday. “The funds from this settlement will help provide much-needed relief to our communities and ensure that CVS changes its business practices to prevent such a crisis from happening again.”

Most of the settlement money is to be used for treatment and recovery services for people struggling with opioid abuse.

CVS will be required to implement additional employee training and investigate potentially suspicious prescriptions. Company pharmacies will be subject to on-site visits and compliance reviews.

Earlier in America’s long-running opioid crisis, most overdose deaths involved prescription drugs. Many people with opioid use disorders have switched to heroin as authorities and healthcare providers seek to make prescription opioids harder to abuse and harder to obtain. In recent years, deaths have soared largely due to illicitly produced fentanyl.

Last month, the attorney general’s office announced that California would receive more than $500 million from the Walgreens settlement. The state is also eligible to receive $265 million from a similar set of lawsuits against Walmart.