At the origin of more than 500,000 deaths by overdose in 20 years in the United States, this health disaster gave rise to a myriad of procedures launched by communities.

Several companies have already agreed to pay to put an end to it.

“Teva has reached an agreement in principle” with representatives of states, Native American tribes and other plaintiffs “on the financial clauses of a nationwide opiate agreement,” the group announced on Tuesday. occasion of the publication of its second quarter results.

"Teva will pay up to $4.25 billion...and about $100 million for the tribes over 13 years," the Israel-based company said in a statement.

This figure includes the financing, up to 1.2 billion dollars, of distributions of a drug against overdoses.

The agreement does not provide for an admission of fault on the part of the pharmaceutical group.

Teva, under the influence of several lawsuits, has already concluded agreements with certain American states.

Teva was a leading manufacturer of generic opiate drugs.

Many companies have announced they are paying hundreds of millions of dollars to end legal actions over their role in the opioid crisis.

Johnson & Johnson, Purdue and other pharmaceutical companies and distributors are accused of encouraging doctors to over-prescribe these drugs even though they knew they were seriously addictive.

90,000 people died from drug overdoses in 2020, three-quarters of which involved opiates.

The US Department of Health estimates that this crisis was responsible for four years of declining life expectancy in 2014, 2015, 2016 and 2017.

This agreement weighed on the group's results.

Teva recorded a net loss of $232 million from April to June, weighed down by impairments and the charge for legal settlements.

Its turnover was 3.8 billion dollars in the second quarter, down 3% year on year.

Excluding exceptional items, earnings per share, a reference on Wall Street, stood at 68 cents against 59 cents a year earlier.

The opioid crisis in the United States John SAEKI AFP/Archives

The laboratory has revised its objectives downwards for 2022, citing in particular the unfavorable evolution of exchange rates, as well as weaker sales prospects than anticipated for Copaxone, its flagship drug against multiple sclerosis.

It now expects revenues of between $15 billion and $15.6 billion, up from $15.4 billion and $16 billion previously expected.

© 2022 AFP