Weekly Mass Torts Bulletin 2023-May-22

Nevada and drugstore major CVS have negotiated a nearly $152 million settlement to be paid over the next ten years to terminate a lawsuit over opioid allegations.

According to the attorney general, CVS bargained in good faith, and their cooperation with Nevada will assist that state combat the opioid crisis. The payment is one of the ten largest over opioid claims between a single state and a single firm, according to the reports. Additionally, it estimates that Nevada will collect $606 million in total from opioid case settlements since 2020. It represents the biggest settlement the state has ever obtained in a single opioid-related lawsuit.

In the action that was filed in June 2019, the state sued a number of businesses, including CVS. Teva Pharmaceuticals is the subject of an ongoing case, and the state is preparing for trial in August.

Over $50 billion has been agreed upon as settlements for litigation involving the national opioid crisis between drug manufacturers, pharmacies, distributors, and other businesses. The majority of the funds will be used to address the overdose issue, which is responsible for more than 100,000 fatalities annually in the United States.

Some states have benefited more from their proportionate share in national or multistate settlements. In order to resolve litigation about the harm caused by opioids, CVS agreed to pay roughly $5 billion to state and municipal governments last year. But in order to seek the single-state settlement, Nevada chose not to participate in that case.

In April 2022, Nevada signed another multi-state deal worth $232 million over almost two decades with three of the major opioid producers in the country.

A coalition of Nevada county and local governments will get roughly $80 million of the CVS settlement, according to the attorney general, while the state will keep around $70 million. He added proposals for how to use the funds to lessen the opioid problem will be made by a team of specialists.

In order to assist prevent the misuse of opioids, CVS also committed to creating an oversight program with a record of prescriptions, patients, and prescriber "red flags". In a statement, a CVS representative expressed the company's satisfaction with the agreement with Nevada. It was highlighted in the statement that doctors, not chemists, write prescriptions for opioids. It did not go into detail on the oversight scheme.

Hundreds of plaintiffs have requested the federal court to reinstate their Zostavax shingles lawsuits which were earlier dismissed by the judge due to lack of evidence.

In each of the claims, Merck, manufacturer of Zostavax shingles was accused of being responsible for the plaintiffs' development of severe variations of the ailment that the shingles vaccination was meant to prevent.

Even though such testing was never done and cannot be done after the fact, the U.S. District Judge presiding over the litigation required each plaintiff to provide PCR evidence establishing that their shingles was linked to the live strain of the virus contained in the vaccine before allowing the cases to proceed.

As the first shingles vaccine licensed for use in the United States, Merck released Zostavax in 2006. It featured a single injection containing a live virus that was meant to stop the onset of the uncomfortable illness. The vaccine was allegedly designed improperly and poses an unreasonable risk because the live virus was not sufficiently weakened, leading to more severe and prolonged shingles outbreaks in some users as well as a number of neurological issues, autoimmune diseases, vision loss, and hearing loss, according to lawsuits.

All Zostavax lawsuits have been consolidated before a U.S. District Judge in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania as part of federal multidistrict litigation (MDL), where several groups of "bellwether" cases involving various categories of injuries were prepared for trial. This was done because similar questions of fact and law were raised in complaints filed throughout the federal court system.

A "Group A" bellwether pool handled around 1,200 cases involving individuals who claimed they had injuries or acquired shingles after getting the injection. As a result of the Court excluding expert witness testimony connecting the live virus vaccination to the reactivation of the shingles virus that had been dormant in recipients, the court dismissed all Group A cases involving shingles litigation after pretrial discovery.

As a result, the only cases remaining active in the MDL are those involving injuries that are part of a "Group B" bellwether pool for plaintiffs who developed other autoimmune disorders, such as postherpetic neuralgia, acute disseminated encephalopmyelitis (ADEM), paralysis, traverse myelitis, meningitis, hemorrhagic strokes and other injuries, or a "Group C" pool, for individuals who developed hearing loss from Zostavax.

In order to combat the opioid crisis, vending machines that were previously used to sell snacks are now being used to offer life-saving medicines.

More and more local governments and localities are providing free access to so-called "harm reduction" products like the overdose-reversing medication naloxone through vending machines.

After U.S. authorities recently allowed Narcan, the top naloxone brand, for sale without a prescription, interest in the strategy is anticipated to increase. This switch enables vending machines, supermarkets, and convenience shops to stock the nasal spray.

One of the businesses that has worked with American towns to put the drug in machines even before the FDA's over-the-counter permission is machine provider Shaffer Distributing, which also distributes arcade games and pinball machines.

The director of vending sales at the Columbus, Ohio-based firm notes that many more things for enhancing public health may be stocked and supplied in this manner.

We customized a standard vending machine to distribute the goods that health agencies, harm-reduction organizations, or other organizations are trying to introduce to the neighborhood. These machines also dispense some first aid supplies and safe sex kits in addition to Narcan nasal spray, fentanyl testing strips, HIV testing kits, and prescription disposal bags.

The harm-reduction community has likely purchased 200 or more machines. The devices have been installed everywhere, including city hall and public libraries. A few have been transported to locations with 24-hour public access, including post offices, college campuses, and sheriff's offices.

The vending machine only offers the customer the chance to approach without being scrutinized or requiring them to have the necessary funds. The vending machines will continue to be popular and in demand, especially now that Narcan is an over-the-counter medication. This is because your neighbor may not want to enter Walgreens and have you in line behind him wondering "OK, why is this guy buying Narcan?" It provides access around-the-clock and perhaps removes the stigma.

The cost of an outdoor naloxone machine ranges from $4,500 to roughly $7,400. The outdoor machine features a compressor that enables it to maintain a safe temperature for the product in the summer even if it is rain-resistant.

In order to combat the opioid crisis, vending machines that were previously used to sell snacks are now being used to offer life-saving medicines.

More and more local governments and localities are providing free access to so-called "harm reduction" products like the overdose-reversing medication naloxone through vending machines.

After U.S. authorities recently allowed Narcan, the top naloxone brand, for sale without a prescription, interest in the strategy is anticipated to increase. This switch enables vending machines, supermarkets, and convenience shops to stock the nasal spray.

One of the businesses that has worked with American towns to put the drug in machines even before the FDA's over-the-counter permission is machine provider Shaffer Distributing, which also distributes arcade games and pinball machines.

The director of vending sales at the Columbus, Ohio-based firm notes that many more things for enhancing public health may be stocked and supplied in this manner.

We customized a standard vending machine to distribute the goods that health agencies, harm-reduction organizations, or other organizations are trying to introduce to the neighborhood. These machines also dispense some first aid supplies and safe sex kits in addition to Narcan nasal spray, fentanyl testing strips, HIV testing kits, and prescription disposal bags.

The harm-reduction community has likely purchased 200 or more machines. The devices have been installed everywhere, including city hall and public libraries. A few have been transported to locations with 24-hour public access, including post offices, college campuses, and sheriff's offices.

The vending machine only offers the customer the chance to approach without being scrutinized or requiring them to have the necessary funds. The vending machines will continue to be popular and in demand, especially now that Narcan is an over-the-counter medication. This is because your neighbor may not want to enter Walgreens and have you in line behind him wondering "OK, why is this guy buying Narcan?" It provides access around-the-clock and perhaps removes the stigma.

The cost of an outdoor naloxone machine ranges from $4,500 to roughly $7,400. The outdoor machine features a compressor that enables it to maintain a safe temperature for the product in the summer even if it is rain-resistant.