New York Attorney General Leticia James announced via press release Wednesday that she had closed an agreement with pharmaceutical company Allergan. Under the deal, Allergan will provide “up to $200 million” to the state in an effort to mitigate the ongoing opioid crisis.
According to the press release, the agreement arose from legal claims made by James, a suit originally filed in March 2019. Other pharmaceutical companies, like Purdue Pharma, Janssen, Teva, and others, are named in the suit; so are distributors like McKesson and AmerisourceBergen.
The press release says that Allergan must complete the payments by mid 2022; the amounts will total $200 million if certain unspecified conditions are met.
The attorney general also announced that Allergan is barred from promoting or incentivizing the sale of opiods; they are also prohibited from lobbying at the local, state, and federal levels.
“We’ve now negotiated up to $1.7 billion for critical opioid treatment, prevention, and education programs. While no amount of money will ever make up for the thousands who lost their lives or became addicted to opioids across our state, these funds will be used to prevent future devastation,” Attorney General James said.
