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 opioids and now want to know by Dec. 31 whether states are accepting the deals.
States announced final details Monday of settlements that the two largest pharmacy chains in the U.S. offered last month.
The deals are among the largest in a wave of proposed and finalized settlements over opioids in recent years totaling more than $50 billion. Another big pharmacy operator, Walmart, also agreed to a settlement last month for $3.1 billion.
Although lawyers involved in the cases are in line for a cut of the payments, most of the money is to be used to fight an overdose epidemic that has only deepened in recent years….