Associated Press= CVS and Walgreens have agreed in principle to pay a total of about $10 billion to settle lawsuits over the toll of powerful prescription opioids. A lawyer for local governments also said Wednesday that settlement talks continue with Walmart. The developments involving the nation’s largest pharmacy chains could amount to the last huge settlements announced in years of litigation between government entities and drugmakers, distributors and pharmacies over opioids. Governments say pharmacies were filling prescriptions they should have flagged as inappropriate. Opioids have been linked to more than 500,000 deaths in the U.S. over two decades, and the crisis is intensifying.
