BELLEFONTE — Centre County will participate in the latest round of opioid settlement funding, providing the county with additional resources for approved programs aimed at helping individuals affected by the opioid crisis.

The decision formally joins Centre County to the national prescription opioid litigation against eight drug manufacturers whose products contributed to the nationwide epidemic.

Pennsylvania could receive up to $28 million of the $720 million combined national settlement, depending on how many local governments participate.

This latest settlement comes on the heels of a $7.4 billion settlement reached with Purdue Pharma and the Sackler family that will bring as much as $200 million to the Commonwealth.

According to a statement from the office of Attorney General Dave Sunday, settlements from the eight drugmakers involved in the epidemic are as follows: Mylan (now part of Viatris), $284,447,916; Hikma, $95,818,293; Amneal, $71,751,010; Apotex, $63,682,369; Indivior, $38,022,450; Sun, $30,992,087; Alvogen, $18,680,162; and Zydus, $14,859,220.

Some of the drugmakers will complete their payments in a single lump sum, while others are expected to take the next decade to fulfill their full obligations.

“These funds come out of the pockets of companies that contributed to the nationwide addiction epidemic and into Pennsylvania communities,” Attorney General Sunday said. “One of my top priorities is to support counties in their efforts to provide people and families with prevention, treatment and recovery resources — this money will do just that.”

The amount of settlement money Centre County will receive between January 2026 and December 2036, as well as the total number of payments, has yet to be determined, according to County Drug & Alcohol Administrator Cathy Arbogast, who presented the settlement documents for approval.

“This particular settlement is much smaller than the other settlements that have come through,” she said.

Between August 2022 and December 2024, Centre County received $1,165,072 in settlement funds. Of that total, $109,023 has been spent, with an additional $511,153 allocated as of the end of 2024.

Despite being the smallest of the settlements, she estimated the county could receive between $40,000 and $50,000 annually.

“It is an opportunity to add to the funds we have available to support individuals with an opiate use diagnosis and provide services to them,” said Arbogast.

The settlement requires the county to use the money for the same previously approved purposes established in earlier opioid settlements. Centre County has previously applied settlement funds to treatment and medication-assisted treatment programs, recovery support and community-based prevention initiatives.

Commissioner Steve Dershem said his only frustration is that Exhibit E, which outlines allowable activities for the funds, “is very restrictive.”

“I don’t think it takes into full account all the expenses and liabilities we at Centre County have in regard to this,” said Dershem. “I know it’s specifically for a subset of individuals, but it has impacted much more than that subset, so it would have been nice if we had the opportunity to fund positions and do other things.”

Still, he said the settlement is a meaningful step.

“I think it’s great we’re receiving some compensation, but it’s a shame this even had to occur.”

Arbogast said the county has already seen increased use of opioid settlement funds for programs like medication-assisted treatment and drug and alcohol services.

“As prevention funding at the state and federal level has decreased, we’ve started using more opioid settlement funds,” she said.

She added that future decisions at the state and federal level will influence how the county allocates its funds.

“The intent of the opioid settlement funds was to be able to make decisions based on need… not on changes at the state and federal level,” Arbogast said, “but it may come down to having to do that.”