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Nevada reaches $193M settlement in latest opioid lawsuit

Nevada has reached a $193 million settlement with an Israeli pharmaceutical company over its role in the opioid epidemic, Attorney General Aaron Ford announced this week.

The settlement with Teva Pharmaceuticals requires the company to make annual payments to the state for 19 years, starting in July 2024, according to a news release issued Wednesday by the attorney general’s office. The state has now won about $856 million through multiple opioid lawsuits.

“This settlement is the most recent example of my office’s work to hold accountable those who contributed to the opioid epidemic facing Nevadans,” Ford said in the release. “I am proud of the work that my office has done in this fight. The money coming into Nevada from these settlements will help our state recover and will help resources flow to the Nevadans impacted by this epidemic.”

To address the continuing opioid epidemic, the settlement also requires Teva Pharmaceuticals to ban the promotion of opioids, financial incentives for the sale of opioids, funding to third parties that promote opioids and prescription savings programs for opioids. The company also is required to impose lobbying restrictions, develop monitoring programs, provide regular training to employees, as well as monitor and report downstream customers with risk of diversion of opioids, according to the release.

The state recently has enacted the One Nevada Agreement on Allocation of Opioid Recoveries to determine how money from opioid-related settlements will be allocated throughout the state and local governments.

Nevada reached its most recent settlement over the opioid epidemic in May, when the state won $151 million in a settlement with CVS Pharmacy.

In 2021, the Legislature created the Fund for a Resilient Nevada, an account meant to fund evidence-based programs to address opioid use in the state.

Contact Katelyn Newberg at knewberg@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0240. Follow @k_newberg on Twitter.

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