The Board of Selectmen agreed to a national $26 billion agreement with pharmaceutical distributors Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen and manufacturer Johnson & Johnson to bring desperately needed resources to fight the opioid crisis.

“It’s not clear how much Newtown is going to get,” First Selectman Dan Rosenthal told Selectman Maureen Crick Owen and newly elected colleague Ed Schierloh. “The overall settlement was in the tens of billions.”

According to a July press release from State Attorney General William Tong, Connecticut will receive approximately $300 million as part of the landmark settlement. In addition to the cash payment — the largest legal settlement since the multistate tobacco settlement — the agreement also requires significant industry changes that will help prevent this type of crisis from ever happening again.

The agreement would resolve investigations and litigation over the companies’ roles in creating and fueling the opioid epidemic. Connecticut was among the states leading the complex, multistate negotiations, along with North Carolina, Tennessee, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.

Connecticut towns will receive 15 percent of the state’s allocation.

At the Selectmen’s December 6 meeting, the board agreed to accept the settlement and Newtown’s portion of the funding, which is yet undetermined.

Rosenthal said that Newtown joined in the class action lawsuit against opioid manufacturers and distributors under a previous first selectman administration. The lawsuit was pro bono, with the lawyers getting a portion of the settlement, so Newtown “is not on the hook for any legal costs.”

When Newtown receives its allotment, Rosenthal said it should be used for assistance and drug counseling for individuals and families affected by opioid abuse; the town already provides some funding for the Newtown Parent Connection.

“I think things are moving in the right direction,” said Rosenthal.

Tong stated the settlement will be paid out over 18 years, with funds directed to opioid abatement, including expanding access to opioid use disorder prevention, intervention, treatment, and recovery. State funds will be distributed through a state Opioid Recovery & Remediation Fund Advisory Council, administered by the state Department of Mental Health and Addiction Services.

“Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen ignored glaring red flags that should have blocked the flood of highly addictive painkillers into communities in Connecticut and the United States,” said Tong. “Johnson & Johnson callously misled patients and doctors about the deadly addictive nature of their opioid drugs. Together, these corporations reaped profits from the pain and suffering of Connecticut families.”

The settlement — among the largest in US history — brings billions of dollars back into our communities to begin to heal the devastation of the opioid epidemic.

“These negotiations have unfolded over many months, and Connecticut fought hard at every turn to secure the maximum amount of justice and accountability,” Tong said. “No money will ever match the trauma and tragedy of losing a parent or child to opioid addiction, but it is my sincere hope that with these funds and strong new safeguards we can begin to turn the tide on this epidemic.”

The agreement would resolve the claims of both states and local governments across the country, including the nearly 4,000 that have filed lawsuits in federal and state courts. Following today’s agreement, states have 30 days to sign onto the deal, and local governments in the participating states will have up to 150 days to join to secure a critical mass of participating states and local governments.

States and their local governments will receive maximum payments if each state and its local governments join together in support of the agreement.

Settlement Details

Specified

Funding Overview:

*The three distributors collectively will pay up to $21 billion over 18 years.

*Johnson & Johnson will pay up to $5 billion over nine years with up to $3.7 billion paid during the first three years.

*The total funding distributed will be determined by the overall degree of participation by both litigating and non-litigating state and local governments.

*The substantial majority of the money is to be spent on opioid treatment and prevention.

*Each state’s share of the funding has been determined by agreement among the states using a formula that takes into account the impact of the crisis on the state – the number of overdose deaths, the number of residents with a substance use disorder, and the number of opioids prescribed – and the population of the state.

Injunctive Relief Overview:

The 10-year agreement will result in court orders requiring Cardinal, McKesson, and AmerisourceBergen to:

*Establish a centralized independent clearinghouse to provide all three distributors and state regulators with aggregated data and analytics about where drugs are going and how often, eliminating blind spots in the current systems used by distributors.

*Use data-driven systems to detect suspicious opioid orders from customer pharmacies.

*Terminate customer pharmacies’ ability to receive shipments, and report those companies to state regulators, when they show certain signs of diversion.

*Prohibit shipping of and report suspicious opioid orders.

*Prohibit sales staff from influencing decisions related to identifying suspicious opioid orders.

*Require senior corporate officials to engage in regular oversight of anti-diversion efforts.

The 10-year agreement will result in court orders requiring Johnson & Johnson to:

*Stop selling opioids.

*Not fund or provide grants to third parties for promoting opioids.

*Not lobby on activities related to opioids.

*Share clinical trial data under the Yale University Open Data Access Project.

This settlement comes as a result of investigations by state attorneys general into whether the three distributors fulfilled their legal duty to refuse to ship opioids to pharmacies that submitted suspicious drug orders and whether Johnson & Johnson misled patients and doctors about the addictive nature of opioid drugs.

Reporter Jim Taylor can be reached at jim@thebee.com.