Johnson & Johnson and the three largest drug distributors in the U.S. will pay hundreds of Native American tribes more than $500 million to settle claims made in relation to the opioid epidemic, according to federal court documents filed Tuesday. It’s the biggest opioid settlement yet reached with the country’s tribes, who have “suffered some of the worst consequences of the opioid epidemic of any population in the United States,” according to lawyers for the plaintiffs. The settlement was negotiated by a group representing more than 400 tribes, or roughly 85 percent of all U.S. tribal citizens, court records reflected. McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health Inc., and AmerisourceBergen Corp will fork over $440 million in the next seven years, while J&J will pay out $150 million over two years. J&J did not have to admit wrongdoing as part of the settlement, Reuters reported, with the company instead saying in a statement that its promotion of addictive pain medications was “appropriate and responsible.”
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