11th-hour opioid settlement?

This item was originally going to be about the opioid trial beginning in Cleveland, but just as we hit “Save” came the news: Amerisource Bergan, Cardinal Health, McKesson, and Teva have reached a $260 million settlement with the two Ohio counties that filed the suit.

• $215 million cash will come from AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health, and McKesson.
• $20 million cash will come from Teva, plus another $25 million in addiction treatment drugs.
• Nothing (yet) has been released about Walgreens, which was also named in the suit.

Still out there, though, is the broader list of lawsuits from hundreds of municipalities across the country. This first trial was considered a litmus test to see how the bigger suit might play out. (In that larger suit, you may recall, Purdue Pharma has a $4.5 billion-with-a-B tentative settlement on the table.)

If you’ve only vaguely been following the case, the New York Times has the clear-cut guide to the whos, hows, and whys of the entire brouhaha. Enjoy.

Reminder: Region meetings continue this week

The details (and sign-up link) are at GPhA.org/regions. And yes, we need you to register in advance (so we’re sure there’s enough food)!

• Region 1 (Statesboro area): Tuesday, October 22
• Region 3 (Americus area): Wednesday, October 23
• Region 4 (Peachtree City area): Thursday, October 24
• Region 6 (Macon area): Thursday, October 24
• Region 11 (Augusta area): Wednesday, October 23

Don’t miss this great networking evening! Click here for details and to register — you must register to attend!

Zantac finally recalled in US

While Canada, most of Europe, China, and India have already recalled or banned Zantac and its generic cousins — and major drug chains have pulled it from the shelves, here in the U.S. the FDA is still investigating. So Sanofi decided to recall the drug on its own.

Vaccination coverage: Great, but not perfect

The latest figures from the CDC show that kids — specifically kindergarten kids — are decently vaccinated with the DTaP and MMR vaccines: 94.9% for the former and 94.7% for the latter. Still, says the agency, 2.5% of kindergartners had an exemption from at least one vaccine, and a further 2.8% “were not up to date for MMR and did not have a vaccine exemption.”

Two health stories that are both interesting and can be used as fodder for bad jokes

“Monkeys demonstrate more cognitive flexibility than humans”

“Male and Female Mice Have Different Brain Cells”

The Long(ish) Read: Why physicians don’t prescribe benzos

“Where is my Xanax Rx?” from The Conversation.