Attorney General Letitia James announces major settlement that will force Mylan to pay up to $335 million for its contribution to the deadly opioid epidemic

New York – In a major development aimed at holding pharmaceutical companies accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic, New York Attorney General Letitia James announced that her office has reached a multistate settlement in principle with Mylan Inc. The agreement, which could provide as much as $335 million nationwide, seeks to address the wide-reaching damage caused by the overpromotion and misuse of opioid medications.

Mylan, now part of Viatris, is a global pharmaceutical company that has manufactured and sold a range of opioid products since 2005. Among them are generic versions of fentanyl patches, oxycodone, hydrocodone, and buprenorphine. The attorneys general involved in the case allege that Mylan aggressively marketed these drugs to medical professionals while misleadingly downplaying their addictive potential.

“When drug companies put profits over people, innocent patients can get sucked into deadly cycles of addiction and overdoses,” said Attorney General James. “Mylan deceptively marketed its opioid products as safe, despite knowing they would be abused and sold illegally. While no settlement can fully repair the damage caused by dangerous opioids, these funds will help New York and other states fight the opioid crisis.”

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The case accuses Mylan of promoting its opioids as less likely to be abused, despite internal knowledge suggesting the opposite—especially concerning its fentanyl patches, which the company allegedly knew were highly vulnerable to misuse. This false sense of safety, according to investigators, helped drive widespread overprescription and diverted drugs into illegal markets.

The settlement, once finalized, will be paid out over a nine-year period to the participating states. These funds are expected to support efforts to combat the ongoing opioid epidemic through treatment, prevention programs, and public health initiatives. States involved in negotiating the settlement include California, Illinois, Massachusetts, North Carolina, Oregon, Tennessee, Utah, and Virginia, with support from Colorado, Delaware, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, and Vermont.

Attorney General James has built a strong record of targeting the corporate actors behind the opioid epidemic. With this most recent announcement, she has now secured over $3 billion in total settlements for New York alone. These funds are intended for statewide opioid abatement strategies, including support for addiction recovery centers, public education campaigns, and healthcare provider training.

Previous settlements include high-profile companies such as Purdue Pharma, Johnson & Johnson, Teva Pharmaceuticals, and Cardinal Health. James has also led efforts against large retail pharmacy chains like CVS, Walgreens, and Walmart for allegedly failing to monitor suspicious opioid prescriptions. Moreover, she successfully pursued claims against consulting and marketing firms like McKinsey & Company and Publicis Health, arguing their influence helped expand the crisis.

The Mylan settlement marks another important step in the nationwide effort to recover from the devastating effects of the opioid crisis. Though prescription opioids were originally introduced to manage pain safely, lax regulation, misleading marketing, and aggressive sales tactics contributed to their widespread misuse and addiction.

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For New York, the negotiations were led by First Deputy Attorney General Jennifer Levy, Special Counsel Monica Hanna, and Assistant Attorney General Matthew Conrad. Data Scientist Ken Morales from the Research and Analytics Department also played a key role in assessing the evidence and quantifying the harm.

As the nation continues to grapple with the long-term consequences of opioid addiction and overdose deaths, such settlements are seen as both a measure of justice and a source of critical funding to rebuild affected communities.

While Attorney General James and her colleagues acknowledge that no financial settlement can undo the suffering caused by addiction, they emphasize the importance of using these funds to create lasting change.

With the Mylan deal in place, the hope is that states will have even more tools to reduce addiction, support recovery, and prevent future pharmaceutical misconduct.