Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Suboxone Takes Center Stage In Massive Drug Settlement, But Experts Wonder If It Should Have Such An Outsized Role
In this week’s $260 million settlement between drug companies and two Ohio counties hit hard by the opioid crisis, $25 million worth of the addiction medication known as Suboxone is a big part of the deal. Suboxone would make up a much larger share of a proposed national settlement announced shortly afterward by a bipartisan group of state attorneys general: an estimated $26 billion over 10 years out of a $48 billion overall settlement. (Vestal, 10/23)
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd's proposed $23 billion drug giveaway to settle thousands of U.S. opioid lawsuits will likely cost the company a fraction of that figure due to how it has valued those medicines, according to a Reuters review of pricing data and industry analysts. When Teva announced the value of the donated medicine - a generic version of opioid addiction treatment Suboxone - it based the figure on the drug's list price, which does not account for significant discounts routinely provided by the drugmaker. (Erman and Raymond, 10/23)
Johnson & Johnson on Wednesday lowered its previously reported third-quarter profit by $3 billion to account for a proposed opioid settlement payment. A framework settlement, announced on Monday, was hammered out by some drugmakers and distributors and attorneys general in North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Texas. The proposed deal will need broad support among all the state attorneys general and local governments that have sued the companies over the opioid crisis. (10/23)
The state of Ohio will receive $39.4 million from a $700 million settlement between the federal government and states with a U.K.-based drug manufacturer over the marketing of an opioid addiction treatment medication. Reckitt Benckiser Group agreed in July to pay $1.4 billion to resolve criminal and civil investigations into its marketing of the medication Suboxone. (Heisig, 10/23)
In other news on the crisis —
New York and other states have reached a $700 million settlement deal with Reckitt Benckiser over allegations that the drug distributor improperly marketed a drug to treat opioid addiction, New York Attorney General Letitia James said on Wednesday. The deal is a part of an up to $1.4 billion settlement agreed to in July to resolve U.S. state and federal claims that Reckitt Benckiser's former pharmaceuticals business Indivior, before it was spun out, carried out an illegal scheme to boost sales of opioid addiction treatment Suboxone. (10/23)
A new policy from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) aims to improve the agency’s quotas of controlled substances, with the intent of preventing manufacturers from overproducing opioids. A proposed rule published Wednesday would further limit excess quantities of medications that might be vulnerable to diversion for illicit distribution and use, the agency said in a statement. (Weixel, 10/23)
