So a lot of these state attorneys general want the companies to pay a lot more, and they want the payouts to come a lot faster. MANN: And to put that in context, AmerisourceBergen had revenues in just the first quarter of this year of roughly $48 billion. STEVEN COLLIS: We don't feel the need to war chest at all because it is a lot of cash in absolute terms in relative terms, it's relative to a couple of hundred million dollars a day in sales. Collis described the payout as a relatively minor cost of doing business. In a conference call with investors last month, the CEO of AmerisourceBergen, Steve Collis, seemed to downplay the economic pain his company would feel from this settlement.

But when you compare that $18 billion figure against the scale of this epidemic, with hundreds of thousands of people dead from overdoses and a lot more people sick or damaged, critics say it's just a drop in the bucket.Īnd there is one more thing, Mary Louise, that's angering state officials. These aren't drugmakers these are the companies that distributed opioids to pharmacies. MANN: Yeah, it does sound like a lot of money, and this settlement would involve just three firms - AmerisourceBergen, McKesson and Cardinal Health. KELLY: That is a lot of money on the table that could help ease the opioid epidemic. Brian Mann with North Country Public Radio follows opioid litigation for NPR. This was first reported today by The Wall Street Journal.

More than 20 state attorneys general have signed a letter rejecting an $18 billion deal proposed by three of the country's biggest opioid wholesalers. Efforts to reach a big national opioid settlement have hit another snag.

At Any Cost by Steven T. Collis