Oklahoma officials have agreed to spend tens of millions of dollars from an out-of-court settlement solely to curb opioid abuse in the state, ending a conflict among state leaders over who would control the money, the Washington Post reports. After receiving the assurances Monday, Judge Thad Balkman approved the $85 million settlement between the state and Teva Pharmaceutical Industries. Private attorneys hired by the state to work on the case will receive 15 percent of the total, plus reimbursement for their expenses. Teva is one of three pharmaceutical companies that Oklahoma sued two years ago in what has become a closely watched test of whether states and cities can force drug firms to help pay for the two-decade-old opioid crisis. Almost every state has filed suit against drug companies in state courts, and about 1,900 cities, towns, Native American tribes and other groups have sued pharmaceutical companies in a consolidated case before a federal judge in Ohio.
In March, Oklahoma reached a $270 million settlement with Purdue Pharma, maker of the drug OxyContin. Balkman is presiding over the trial, now in its fifth week, against the remaining defendant, health-care conglomerate Johnson & Johnson. The Teva deal was announced May 26, but the company’s payment to the state was held up after Gov. Kevin Stitt and legislative leaders sought clarification about who would control the money. After most of the money from the Purdue agreement went to a national addiction treatment and research center at Oklahoma State University, unhappy state lawmakers passed legislation requiring that any future settlement revenue go into the state treasury. Under the deal announced Monday, the money will be deposited in a state “opioid lawsuit settlement fund” and “shall only be for the abatement of the nuisance related to the opioid crisis,” with the legislature making specific appropriations.