Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced an $86 million multistate settlement in principle with opioid manufacturer Indivior for its role in driving the spread of deadly opioid addictions across Illinois and the country.
Indivior produced buprenorphine-based products to treat opioid use disorder. However, as Raoul and a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general allege, Indivior inappropriately focused its sales on dangerous prescribers, including doctors running pill mills. Indivior also failed to monitor suspicious orders, causing its products to be inappropriately prescribed and used to fuel, rather than treat, opioid addictions.
“The opioid epidemic has led to deadly addiction that affects too many families in Illinois and across the nation,” Raoul said. “I will continue to hold the companies that created and fueled this crisis accountable. This settlement builds on our progress, through multiple settlements with opioid manufacturers and distributors, to ultimately help families get their loved one’s access to the treatment and recovery resources they deserve.”
The settlement in principle was negotiated by Attorney General Raoul and the attorneys general of New York, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia in coordination with an executive committee consisting of the attorneys general of California, Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon and Vermont.
This settlement is the latest of Attorney General Raoul’s ongoing efforts to combat the opioid epidemic and hold accountable companies whose deceptive practices increased opioid prescriptions at the expense of public health. It comes after Raoul’s office reached multiple national settlements with opioid manufacturers and sellers. Currently, Illinois expects to receive close to $1.4 billion in abatement funds by 2038. Indivior settlement funds will be allocated according to the Illinois Opioid Allocation Agreement negotiated by Raoul’s office.
Attorney General Raoul urges anyone who believes they or a loved one may be addicted to opioids to seek help by calling the Illinois Helpline for Opioids and Other Substances at 833-2FINDHELP, which operates 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
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