Agenda 11-16-2021; 6-b - Opt-in to the National Settlement with Janssen and National Distributors

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1 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: November 16, 2021 Action Agenda Item No. 6-b SUBJECT: Opt-in to the National Settlement with Janssen and National Distributors DEPARTMENT: County Attorney ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Distributor Opt-In John Roberts, County Attorney, 245- Janssen Opt-In 2318 PURPOSE: To enter the national settlement as previously approved by the Board of Commissioners in Closed Session. BACKGROUND: As previously reported to the Board of Commissioners, the County's national attorneys have been negotiating with multiple defendants in the national opioid litigation in order to reach a settlement. There are two proposed nationwide settlement agreements ("Settlements") that have been reached that will resolve all opioid litigation brought by states and local political subdivisions against the three largest pharmaceutical distributors, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen ("Distributors"), and one manufacturer, Janssen Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and its parent company Johnson & Johnson (collectively, "Janssen"). This leaves open litigation against numerous other and generally smaller corporate defendants. The proposed Settlements require the Distributors and Janssen to pay billions of dollars to abate the opioid epidemic. Specifically, the Settlements require the Distributors to pay up to $21 billion over 18 years and Janssen to pay up to $5 billion over no more than 9 years, for a total of $26 billion (the "Settlement Amount"). Of the Settlement Amount, approximately $22.7 billion is earmarked for use by participating states and subdivisions to remediate and abate the impacts of the opioid crisis. The Settlements also contain injunctive relief provisions governing the opioid marketing, sale and distribution practices at the heart of the states' and subdivisions' lawsuits and further require the Distributors to implement additional safeguards to prevent diversion of prescription opioids. Each of the proposed Settlements has two key participation steps. First, each state decides whether to participate in the Settlements. North Carolina has joined both Settlements. Second, the subdivisions within each participating state must then decide whether to participate in the Settlements. The Board of Commissioners has approved participation in closed session and this action is to formally enter the settlement.