After being targeted along with other leading prescription drug distributors for blame in West Virginia’s growing opioid abuse epidemic, AmerisourceBergen has settled a lawsuit from the state’s attorney general for $16 million, according to a report in The Washington Post by Scott Higham and Lenny Bernstein.

The Chesterbrook-based pharmaceutical giant denied wrongdoing in the case, which alleged violations of state consumer protection laws.

“(AmerisourceBergen) has been and remains committed to the safe and appropriate delivery of controlled substances,” a spokeswoman said.

Now two West Virginia counties have also filed first-of-their-kind lawsuits against AmerisourceBergen as well as McKesson Corp., Cardinal Health, Walgreens, CVS, and others.

“The purpose of these lawsuits is to make the economic cost of willfully violating the law so significant that we force the wholesalers to abide by the law,” said attorney Paul Farrell Jr.

Other counties in West Virginia, where prescription painkiller overdose deaths have tripled in the last 10 years, along with other states, are also considering lawsuits.

Read more about the opioid abuse epidemic’s new legal battle in The Washington Post here.