CVS agrees to pay $5B to resolve opioid-related lawsuits
Walgreens and Walmart have also reportedly reached deals, which if finalized should end much of the years long litigation?over opioids.
In Sep CVS home healthcare company Signify for $8B following bidding war and today there is a day of CVS to pay $5 Billion for opioid-related lawsuits.
A $5.2 billion pretax opioid litigation charge contributed to CVS posting a $3.4 billion net loss in the third quarter, compared to a profit of $1.6 billion a year earlier.
In August, a judge ruled that CVS, Walgreens and Walmart had to pay a combined $651 million to two Ohio counties after they were found liable for furthering the opioid epidemic. They also follow a settlement reached by three major medical distributors earlier this year to resolve the?vast majority of opioid-related lawsuits?that totaled more than $19 billion.
In a call with investors on Wednesday, CVS management said the deal provides clarity on a longstanding issue for the company and the payment timeline will allow it to continue investing in the business.
Guertin said the projected financial impact of the stars decrease and?Centene moving its $35 billion prescription drug contract?from Caremark?to competitor Express Scripts will be about $2 billion in 2024. CVS expects to mitigate about half of that internally and undergo stock repurchases to combat the remaining impingement, which could total as much as $10 billion.
“We will continue to evaluate our options on primary care, and as I said we believe that we need to do M&A and we continue to evaluate those options in the marketplace,” Lynch said on the call.
CVS shares rose 3.9% to $98.27 in morning trading.