Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced Thursday his office was apart of a $350 million multistate settlement with Publicis Health to resolve investigations into the marketing firm’s role in the prescription opioid crisis.
The Volunteer State will receive more than $9 million from the settlement, with a majority of the funds placed into the state’s Opioid Abatement Trust Fund to support local efforts addressing the opioid epidemic.
The Tennessee General Assembly established the state’s Opioid Abatement Council in 2021 to “oversee the trust and ensure funds related to opioid abuse, misuse, prevention, and awareness are dispersed throughout the state.”
“The opioid crisis has devastated families and communities across Tennessee and we will continue to work hard to hold accountable those companies most responsible,” Skrmetti said in a statement. “The money we get from these companies will never be enough to make right the damage they have done, but we will continue to work with the Governor, the General Assembly, and the Opioid Abatement Council to ensure that these resources go toward fighting the opioid epidemic.”
This week’s settlement with Publicis Health contributes to Tennessee’s settlements with drug manufacturers and others for their roles in the opioid crisis that have since totaled more than $1 billion.
In addition to the $350 million total payout, Publicis Health has agreed to “recognize the harm its conduct caused,” and “stop accepting client work related to opioid-based Schedule II or Schedule III controlled substances,” as part of the settlement, according to Skrmetti’s office.
“Today’s filings in Knox County Circuit Court describe how Publicis’ work contributed to the crisis by helping Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers market and sell opioids,” Skrmetti’s office added. “Court documents detail how Publicis acted as Purdue’s agency of record for all its branded opioid drugs, including OxyContin, and assisted in the deceptive promotion of these drugs.”
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Here’s a good use for those funds:
From Daily Mail… “Americans should not have to suffer twice’: Connecticut becomes first state to wipe medical debt for residents: $1BILLION in unpaid bills to be forgiven. ”
Connecticut accomplished that with 6.5 million….