A pharmaceutical company that has been accused of profiting from the sale of opioids is poised to enter into a decade-long agreement with California officials to provide emergency medicine for the treatment of opioid overdoses.
The Governor’s Office said last month the state’s CalRx program, which aims to widen access to low-cost prescription drugs, will partner with New Jersey-based Amneal Pharmaceuticals. Amneal plans to sell an over-the-counter naloxone nasal spray product to the state’s Naloxone Distribution Project for $24 per unit. This is nearly half the current market price of the opioid-treatment drug, according to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s office.
Earlier this month, state Attorney General Rob Bonta said a national settlement had been negotiated in principle with Amneal to resolve existing opioid claims filed against the drug maker, as well as potential future cases. Under the terms of the deal, Amneal will pay up to $272.5 million nationally for its role in the opioid epidemic, Bonta’s office reported.
The settlement would earmark up to $92.5 million in cash and $180 million nationwide in overdose-reversal products, the Attorney General’s Office said.
The agency that administers the CalRx program, the state Department of Health Care Access and Information, defended the selection of Amneal to scale up its naloxone-distribution efforts.
“During the vetting process for a Naloxone Access Initiative partner, CalRx became aware that like many large generic pharmaceutical companies, Amneal Pharmaceuticals was named in some opioid litigation,” the department said in a statement emailed to the Southern California Record. “In making its decision to select Amneal for the naloxone program, CalRx prioritized factors such as price, time to market and ability to meet the anticipated volume demands in California – understanding that more efficiency means more lives saved.”
The $24 price tag negotiated with the company will be groundbreaking in that it will allow for ramped-up naloxone distribution to qualifying organizations, including first-responders, college campuses and community groups, state officials said.
“California is disrupting the drug industry with CalRx – securing life-saving drugs at lower and transparent prices,” Newsom said in a prepared statement last month. “As we continue the effort to bring $30 insulin to the market, the state is now set to purchase life-saving naloxone for almost half of the current market price – maximizing taxpayer dollars and saving more lives with this miracle drug.”
California naloxone-distribution efforts have resulted in 260,000 reported opioid-overdose reversals, according to the Governor’s Office. The expanding program is expected to help low-income, uninsured and underinsured Californians in particular.
The negotiations on the nationwide Amneal opioid settlement were led by California, New York, Delaware, Tennessee, Utah and Virginia in coordination with attorneys general in seven other states, according to the Attorney General’s Office.
“At the California Department of Justice, we will continue to hold accountable those that fueled this public health crisis,” Bonta said in a prepared statement. “(The May 3) announcement builds on our efforts to heal our communities and respond to this epidemic from all angles, from recovery services to resources on prevention and treatment.”
Amneal reached the agreement in principle without an acknowledgement of wrongdoing, according to the company’s first-quarter financial statement.
“The settlement in principle resolves substantially all opioids litigation and is subject to the negotiation and execution of a definitive settlement agreement between the parties,” Amneal stated. “... We remain committed to helping those impacted by the opioid crisis by enhancing access to naloxone nasal spray. …”