Nate Raymond

(Reuters) – The three largest U.S. drug distributors and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:) have agreed to pay $590 million to resolve claims by Native American tribes that the companies fueled an opioid epidemic in their communities, according to court filings.

The distributors McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen and McKesson Corp were involved in Tuesday’s agreement. Cardinal Health Inc (NYSE:), along with J&J last year proposed paying up to $26 billion to resolve similar claims by states and local governments.

The proposed settlement didn’t cover potential lawsuits by 574 federally-recognized Native American Tribes of the United States and Alaska Native Villages, who have long suffered higher drug overdose death rates than the national average.

According to the settlement, distributors will pay $440million over seven years. The payment is above the $75 million the distributors agreed to pay Cherokee Nation during the September settlement.

J&J agreed to pay $150 million over two years.

Most of the money will be used to support tribes that address the impact of the epidemic on their communities through funding treatments and other programs.

The majority of the lawsuits were filed by tribal, state and local governments. These are seeking to hold other companies and individuals responsible for the epidemic of opioid abuse that has resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths from overdoses across America over two decades.

The lawsuits accuse the distributors of lax controls that allowed massive amounts of addictive painkillers to be diverted into illegal channels, and drugmakers including J&J of downplaying the addiction risk in their opioid marketing.

They deny wrongdoing.

The Tuesday deal was reached one week after the larger $26 billion settlement. This milestone marked a significant step forward, with all eligible local governments within the participating states agreeing to the agreement. Five states still haven’t settled with any of the companies.

In West Virginia, a federal judge has been considering holding distributors responsible for fuelling the epidemic. The three companies involved in the $95 billion trial are also being investigated.