Opioids Settlement

Ohio is getting more than a billion dollars in settlement money to compensate for the harm of opioids. The state is taking lessons from past mistakes with an even larger drug settlement decades ago.

Ohio and its communities are expected to receive about $2 billion from pharmaceutical companies over the course of 18 years to compensate for harm caused by opioids. But there’s not much oversight over how the money will be spent.

The OneOhio Recovery Foundation, who has been tasked with distributing over $860 million of settlements reached with drugmakers and pharmaceutical companies for their roles in the national opioid crisis, plans to release its formal request for proposals Monday.

A last minute addition to the Ohio Senate’s two-year state budget included a provision to allow the OneOhio Recovery Foundation — which is in charge of giving out $1.1 billion of the state’s opioid settlement money — to bypass public meetings rules.

As money is funneled to states, opioid councils wield significant power in determining how it gets spent. They face concerns about conflicts of interest and lack of representation by affected groups.

The federal lawsuit claimed Indivior Inc. made changes to its product to extend the patent, preventing other companies from making cheaper alternatives.

The state panel that will decide how Ohio distributes more than half of the money it will receive from a nationwide settlement regarding the opioid addiction crisis must make its records publicly available, the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday.

The deal, hashed out over weeks of intense negotiations, raises the amount paid by the Sacklers by more than $1 billion. In exchange, the family members win immunity from civil opioid lawsuits.

Companies at the center of the deadly prescription opioid epidemic are close to deals that would cap their liability while funding drug treatment and recovery programs.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said more cities or entities must sign on for it to work.