Kaul, attorneys general reach $1.6B agreement with opioid manufacturer

Wisconsin Attorney General Josh Kaul and other state attorneys general have reached a $1.6 billion trust agreement with the largest generic opioid manufacturer in the U.S.

Kaul announced the global framework agreement with Mallinckrodt on Wednesday. The painkiller maker agreed to pay $1.6 billion in cash to a trust to cover the costs of opioid-addiction treatment and related efforts. The agreement allows for the potential for increased payment to the trust and subjects the company’s future opioid business to strict rules to prevent marketing and diversion.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice joined multi-state investigations of three opioid distributors in March 2019, but Kaul declined to join a multi-state settlement with Purdue Pharma, the manufacturer of Oxycontin, in September.

Kaul’s office said more than 900 people died of opioid overdoses in 2017.