Attorney General James Secures $150 Million Multistate Settlement in Principle with Hikma Pharmaceuticals to Help Combat Opioid Crisis

NEW YORK – New York Attorney General Letitia James today announced a $150 million multistate settlement in principle that her office secured with opioid manufacturer Hikma Pharmaceuticals (Hikma) for its role in fueling the opioid crisis. Hikma produces a range of generic opioid products and sells hundreds of millions of opioid doses every year. The attorneys general allege that from 2006 to 2021, Hikma failed to monitor and report suspicious opioid orders from potentially illegal distributors, even while its personnel knew their systems to monitor suspicious orders were inadequate and prone to failure. The settlement in principle announced today will provide $115 million in cash and $35 million in opioid addiction treatment medication to resolve claims brought by states and local communities against Hikma. States that don’t accept the medication will receive cash in lieu of medication.

“Hikma was part of an industry that flooded the country with dangerous opioids, profiting off the products that have caused our current national public health crisis,” said Attorney General James. “While this settlement won’t fully repair the devastation opioids have caused, the funds we secured will help combat the crisis of addictions and overdoses, and help people across the country get the treatment they need.”  

As part of the settlement in principle, Hikma will pay $150 million to participating states and localities, encompassing $115 million in cash and $35 million worth of opioid addiction treatment medication. 

The settlement in principle was negotiated by Attorney General James and the attorneys general of California, Delaware, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia, in coordination with an executive committee consisting of the attorneys general of Colorado, Idaho, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Ohio, and Oregon. 

In addition to the settlement with Hikma, today Attorney General James also announced a $350 million multistate settlement with Publicis Health, LLC (Publicis) for its role in fueling the opioid crisis through its work with Purdue Pharma. New York will receive $19 million from its settlement with Publicis. 

In 2019, Attorney General James filed the nation’s most extensive lawsuit against opioid distributors and manufacturers for their role in the opioid epidemic. Since then, Attorney General James has recovered more than $2.7 billion to support New York opioid abatement, treatment, and prevention efforts from companies including Teva Pharmaceuticals, Johnson & Johnson, Mallinckrodt, Allergan, Endo, McKesson, Cardinal Health, and Amerisource Bergen. Attorney General James has also led multistate coalitions in reaching settlements for billions of dollars with CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart for their role in failing to properly regulate opioid prescriptions. Additionally, Attorney General James, co-led a coalition of nearly every attorney general in the nation in delivering more than $573 million — more than $32 million of which was earmarked for New York state — toward opioid treatment and abatement in an agreement and consent judgment with McKinsey & Company.

This settlement with Hikma was negotiated by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy, Special Counsel Monica Hanna, and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Conrad, of the Executive Division; Assistant Attorneys General Eve Woodin and Jennifer Simcovitch of the Health Care Bureau; and Data Scientist Ken Morales of the Research and Analytics Department.