The agreement comes within hours of the first federal trial over the crisis, with opening statements scheduled for Monday in Cleveland.
The tentative settlement involves drug distributors AmerisourceBergen, Cardinal Health and McKessen and drug manufacturer Teva.It's not clear what will happen with remaining litigation if the settlements are finalized. The deal was first reported by The Wall Street Journal and was confirmed to The Associated Press by Paul Hanly, a lead lawyer for the local governments suing the drug industry.