Attorney General Ken Paxton held a press conference on October 26th to announce the details of the Johnson & Johnson opioid settlement agreement and answers media questions. AG Paxton also issues a press release which can be found here.
This report is intended to give you an overview and highlight of the discussions on the various topics taken up. It is not a verbatim transcript of the discussions but is based upon what was audible or understandable to the observer and the desire to get details out as quickly as possible with few errors or omissions.
Attorney General Ken Paxton
- $290m statewide settlement in agreement with J&J to resolve the opioid crisis
- Largely Tracks terms of global prescription opioid settlement; $291,845,000 in settlement fund, representing the entirety of Texas’ portion with J&J
- Still working with other companies, will be almost $1.1b with 3 distributors
- Opioid crisis is not going away, deaths are climbing
- Money from this settlement will come at the end of this year, will be allocated to those in need and begin flowing at the beginning of next year
Questions
- How does this relate to the multi-state agreement?
- Separate from negotiations with the 3 distributors
- Amerisource, Cardinal, and McKesson are grouped together, Texas will likely end up with $1.1b
- Will this affect the final dollar amount?
- No, negotiated at the same time with J&J, but separately from the
- Will this be managed by the oversight council?
- 70% goes into abatement fund and will be managed, 15% will go to subdivisions, and another 15% to the state
- Distributed over a period of years?
- This money is distributed at one-time, paid December and will be available in January; J&J has a better cash position and were able to negotiate for upfront payment
- Distribution across subdivisions?
- 15% will be based largely on population numbers, won’t be dealing with this directly
- Who decides who gets what?
- Those appointed by us & Governor’s staff; incl. medical professionals, etc.
- Counties & cities will be able to apply for funds