NEW YORK: Four pharmaceutical companies have said they received enough support from US states to move to the next stage of a $26 billion settlement over thousands of legal claims related to the opioid epidemic. The opioid crisis - exacerbated by the coronavirus pandemic - has killed more than half a million people in the United States.

In a joint statement, the pharmaceutical distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKesson said they had received the green light from 42 out of 49 states, Washington DC, and five US territories.

The companies said they had "determined that enough states have agreed to settle to proceed to the next phase."

The pharmaceutical manufacturing giant Johnson & Johnson, which also announced in July it would pay $5 billion to settle lawsuits in the same case, said in a separate statement that it, too, was ready to move to the next stage of the settlement.

"This settlement is not an admission of any liability or wrongdoing and the Company will continue to defend against any litigation that the final agreement does not resolve," Johnson & Johnson said.