Tag Archive for: drug overdose

From reversing overdose to blocking cravings, the biopharma industry is looking at a range of possible solutions to addiction.

The U.S. Department of Justice asked the U.S. Supreme Court to stop Purdue Pharma from proceeding with a bankruptcy settlement that protects its Sackler family owners from lawsuits.

In the United States, difficulties in getting treatment for substance use disorders during the COVID pandemic coincided with a jump in use of synthetic opioids like fentanyl, and opioid-related deaths soared to a record-high in 2020.

The company in November finalized the settlement agreement to resolve thousands of U.S. lawsuits over the marketing of opioid painkillers and agreed to pay up to $4.25 billion, including a supply of the overdose drug naloxone.

Under the deals, first announced in July, Israel-based Teva will pay up to $4.25 billion, including a supply of the overdose drug naloxone. AbbVie will pay up to $2.37 billion. The final amounts of the settlements will depend on how many state and local governments opt into them.

The committee will reveal in a Wednesday report that after adapting a method used by CDC scientists and adjusting for inflation, it found that the crisis cost the U.S. economy $1.47 trillion in 2020, a $487 billion increase from 2019.