Walgreens to pay San Francisco $229 million over opioid crisis

Walgreens will pay San Francisco nearly $230 million to settle a case over the pharmacy chain’s distribution of opioids, San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu announced Wednesday.

The city will receive $229 million over the next 14 years, with the majority of the funds coming in the first eight years, Chiu’s office said. The settlement is the largest amount any city has received from a single company in opioid-related litigation, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.

“Cities like San Francisco have shouldered much of the burden of the opioid epidemic,” Chiu said in a statement. The “historic agreement ensures Walgreens is held accountable for the crisis they fueled and our city receives appropriate resources to combat the opioid crisis and bring relief to our communities.”

San Francisco in 2018 sued Walgreens, Purdue Pharma and other opioid manufacturers and distributors over their role in the opioid epidemic. In 2022, a judge found that Walgreens “substantially contributed” to the city’s opioid epidemic, writing, “The evidence showed that Walgreens did not provide its pharmacists with sufficient time, staffing, or resources to perform due diligence on these prescriptions.”

Between 2014 and 2020, opioid-related overdose deaths in the city grew by nearly 500%, Chiu’s office said. 

The city attorney previously received settlements from manufacturers Endo, Allergan, Teva, Johnson & Johnson; pharmacy chains CVS and Walmart; and distributors McKesson, Cardinal and AmerisourceBergen.

This is a developing story.