PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — Walgreens will pay the City of Philadelphia $110 million over the next five years to settle a lawsuit regarding its role in the opioid epidemic.
Walgreens was one of the plaintiffs in a suit filed in 2021 accusing drug store chains of contributing to the opioid epidemic by failing to monitor and report suspicious orders of painkillers and filling them without confirming their legitimacy.
Walgreens denies the charges in the settlement but agrees to pay about $22 million a year over the next five years.
City solicitor Renee Garcia says the city would have gotten about $38 million over 15 years, but felt it was inadequate. She says this agreement is closer to the mark.
“It is about three times more than we would have gotten and over a five-year period instead of a 15-year period, so it’s never going to be enough money,” Garcia said. “Quite frankly, we could use billions to redress the harms that have been caused by the opioid crisis, but in the end, we thought this was a fair settlement for both parties.”
Mayor Cherelle Parker said the money will go into her Kensington Revitalization Plan and other citywide efforts to address the epidemic.
Garcia says the city will continue to fight to hold the players in the opioid epidemic accountable.
“We sued the manufacturers, the distributors, now the retailers, even McKinsey the consultant, so absolutely we are initiating litigation up and down the chain so that every actor in that chain is held accountable.”
The city will receive the first payment from the settlement in September.