Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares announced on Tuesday the receipt of more than $100 million in opioid settlement payments from drug manufacturers, distributors and pharmacies who agreed to the financial compensation for their role in the opioid crisis.
The press release by Miyares’ office explained the latest round of payments totaled about $108.4 million of the $1.1 billion secured by Virginia in opioid settlements.
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Major retailers have experienced a wave of store closures in 2023, an 80% surge from the year prior, Coresight Research reports.
The top reasons include bankruptcy of one major chain and some stores just not performing well in certain areas. The continued growth of online shopping is another factor, and other retailers said that theft is a major reason for their decision to close some stores, according to CBS News.
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Virginia is slated to receive approximately $366 million as part of the $17.3 billion nationwide settlements with opioid manufacturers Teva and Allegan and pharmacies CVS and Walgreens, Attorney General Jason Miyares announced.
“This milestone settlement with two major drug makers and two major pharmacies has been a long time coming,” said Miyares. “I look forward to seeing the positive impacts on our communities and lives this money will have across Virginia.”
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Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes announced the finalization of a $50 billion national opioid settlement against drug companies Teva and Allergan and pharmacies CVS and Walgreens.
Arizona will receive $380 million in compensation over 15 years. Approximately $213 million will go toward local governments, and the remaining $167 million will be allocated to state-level efforts.
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Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti recently announced that his office has sent a letter to Walgreens, CVS, and Rite Aid confirming that the pharmacies will not sell or dispense mifepristone in the state.
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Walgreens decided on Thursday not to distribute abortion-inducing drugs in some states where they are legal following pushback on multiple fronts, according to Politico.
With continuously changing policies, warnings from state attorneys general and pressure from anti-abortion activists, this decision reflects an abundance of caution, according to Politico. Nearly two dozen state attorneys general signed onto a letter threatening legal action against Walgreens if they go forward with dispensing the drugs, which are now America’s most popular method to terminate pregnancies.
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The “Abortion Pill,” also known as RU-486, could previously only be prescribed by medical professionals in the United States. The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) has officially authorized pharmacy distribution of RU-486, but an Ohio law passed in 2004 forbids pharmacies from distributing these harmful pills.
The drug, commonly known as Mifepristone, has recently received FDA approval, and retailers like Walgreens and CVS across the U.S. have already declared they will stock it. In Ohio however, only doctors with specific training and certification can offer, sell, dispense, or administer the drugs.
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Georgia officials expect the state will receive more than $181 million after joining national settlements with four companies over allegations they contributed to the opioid crisis.
The Peach State will use the money from Allergan, CVS, Teva and Walgreens to help fund treatment, prevention, reduction and recovery initiatives.
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The state of Georgia has signed on to a $3.1 billion national agreement with Walmart amid allegations that the retailer didn’t properly monitor opioids dispensing at its pharmacies; Georgia is expected to get $28 million in the deal, according to an announcement from Attorney General Chris Carr.
“The opioid epidemic has destroyed lives, families, and communities all across our state and nation,” Carr said in the release.
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Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul (D) announced on Thursday that his and numerous other states have finalized an agreement whereby the CVS and Walgreens pharmacy companies will pay $10.7 billion to those jurisdictions over opioid-epidemic concerns.
The deal comes as a result of litigation by prosecutors across the nation alleging that the corporations failed to ensure that their pharmacies properly dispense painkillers, resulting in illegal trafficking and use of the drugs that has contributed to widespread deadly addiction.
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Tennessee will receive $265 million in opioid crisis funds from a settlement with Walgreens and CVS, according to Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti’s Office.
The state’s settlement with the two companies is a part of a national multistate settlement which will see Walgreens and CVS paying more than $10.7 billion combined.
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Connecticut is slated to receive another payout from a multi-state opioid settlement involving two of the nation’s largest retail pharmacies.
Under the tentative deal, CVS and Walgreens have agreed to pay state and local governments a combined total of more than $10 billion to settle lawsuits over the toll of highly-addictive prescription opioids.
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Virginia is expected to receive $60 million as part of a tentative $3.1 billion settlement agreement with Walmart after allegations of insufficient oversight of opioid dispensing at the chain’s pharmacies.
“Companies who facilitated the dispensing of opioids contributed to the opioid epidemic that has devastated millions of lives. This significant settlement will help us fight back against the epidemic and provide abatement and rehabilitation resources to suffering Virginians,” Attorney General Jason Miyares said in a press release.
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Over 82 million COVID-19 vaccine doses have been wasted since the start of the pandemic, including roughly 11% distributed by the federal government, according to the Center for Disease Control.
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Jurors in Florida heard opening arguments Monday in the civil case against pharmacy chain Walgreens over its marketing and distribution of opiods.
The lawsuit was filed by Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody.
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The pharmaceutical chain Walgreens will be closing five stores in San Francisco, California due to a spike in “organized” shoplifting impacting its locations, according to MarketWatch via MSN.
The decision was made by Walgreens’ parent company, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc., which will relocate all employees to new locations and ship all outstanding prescriptions to other stores within one mile of the original stores. The stores will be shut down sometime between November 8th and November 17th.
“Retail theft across our San Francisco stores has continued to increase in the past few months to five times our chain average,” the company revealed in the statement announcing the decision. “To help combat this issue, we increased our investments in security measures in stores across the city to 46 times our chain average, in an effort to provide a safe environment.”
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Atlanta’s Mayor announced Thursday night that she will not run for a second term.
“As [husband] Derek and I have given thoughtful prayer and consideration to the season now before us, it is with deep emotions that I hold my head high, and choose not to seek another term as Mayor,” Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms (D) said in a letter published Thursday.
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The Virginia Department of Health (VDH) announced on Thursday that it is expanding its partnership with Walgreens to offer Abbott BinaxNOW rapid antigen COVID-19 testing for free at specific locations throughout the Commonwealth, according to a press release from the agency.
Before the expanded agreement only four Walgreens in the state were providing the drive-through tests, but now that number has increased to 15 select locations, the release said.
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CVS announced Monday that it has formally launched its program to administer COVID-19 vaccines to residents and staff of long-term care facilities and will begin its efforts in Virginia on December 28th, according to a press release.
The company said that its teams will start administering doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine this week across 12 states – including Ohio, Connecticut, Florida and Oregon, among others – and expects to vaccinate a total of four million residents and staff at over 40,000 long-term care facilities through the program.
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