Baltimore reaches opioid settlement with Walgreens; 3 defendants remain in ongoing lawsuit

BALTIMORE — The City of Baltimore has reached a settlement with Walgreens, leaving three remaining defendants in the city’s ongoing lawsuit against drug manufacturers and distributors accused of contributing to the opioid crisis.

The settlement, the terms of which will not be disclosed until next month, brings the total amount the city has won from opioid companies to more than $402.5 million, Mayor Brandon M. Scott said Tuesday. Prior to the Walgreens settlement, the total stood at $332 million, making the Walgreens settlement roughly $80 million.

Baltimore’s lawsuit against the remaining companies is set to go to trial next week. The city opted out of previous global settlements with major opioid companies to pursue its own lawsuit in hopes of winning larger payouts.

“As part of the settlement, Walgreens requested that we delay announcing the specific terms of the agreement for 30 days,” Solicitor Ebony Thompson said in a news release. “In order to resolve the case against it and focus our trial on the worst actors in the opioid epidemic, we agreed to this term.”

The Walgreens deal is the fifth settlement announced in connection with the city’s opioid lawsuit, which alleges opioid manufacturers and distributors irresponsibly marketed addictive painkillers and failed to block unusually large orders of drugs to Baltimore pharmacies. More than half a billion legal opioids flooded the Baltimore area between 2006 and 2019; the city claims the glut contributed to its ongoing overdose crisis.

Baltimore previously announced $45 million settlements with Allergan and CVS, an $80 million settlement with Teva Pharmaceuticals and a $152.5 million settlement with Cardinal Health, a major opioid distributor.

“As we approach the beginning of trial, it is time to finish the job against the remaining defendants and begin using this money to support and grow the work we’ve already been doing to tackle the opioid epidemic where it can do the most good,” Scott said in a news release.

Scott’s administration outlined a plan last month for how the city will manage its opioid settlement money. In an executive order, Scott established an opioid restitution fund and detailed guidelines for how the money can be used. The city also plans to create a Restitution Advisory Board to review grant applications and make recommendations for how to spend the money.

The executive order also created two new positions, an executive director of overdose response and an opioid restitution program manager who will support the advisory board.

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