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Walgreens Boots Alliance (NASDAQ:WBA) has agreed to pay $500M to the State of New Mexico to settle litigation stemming from how it handled prescriptions for opioids in that state.
The State of New Mexico had sued Walgreens, alleging that its pharmacies filled prescriptions for opioids that would have appeared suspicious or not for a legitimate medical purpose, in violation of state and federal law.
Law firm Baron & Budd, which helped represent New Mexico in the litigation, said that the Walgreens settlement is in addition to the $274M secured through a similar settlement last fall with Albertsons (ACI), CVS (CVS), Kroger (KR) and Walmart (WMT).
Earlier Friday, several state attorneys general announced that a $17.3B national settlement had been finalized with Walgreens, Teva (TEVA), AbbVie's (ABBV) Allergan and CVS (CVS) over their alleged roles in the national opioid crisis.
More on opioid litigation:
Teva, Walgreens, CVS, AbbVie to pay $17.3B in national opioid settlement
Teva Pharmaceutical settles opioid litigation with all 50 states
Teva Pharmaceutical says 48 states have agreed to its opioid settlement
Walgreens in $230M opioid settlement with San Francisco