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The drug company Allergan says its $5 million payments divided between two Ohio counties will remove it from a trial scheduled for October on the toll of opioids there.

(Reuters) - The Ohio hospital that employed a doctor charged with 25 counts of murder for giving often fatal doses of opioid painkillers to dozens of sick patients said on Tuesday it has settled two wrongful death lawsuits for a total of $9 million.

Oklahoma pursued the first case against a drug manufacturer for the national public health disaster, and the ruling may point to what lies ahead in 2,000 more lawsuits.

West Virginia University President Gordon Gee and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich are creating a nonprofit that will fight to steer cash from any national opioid settlement to hospitals, rather than to local and state governments already sparring for control of the dollars.

As a landmark trial over the opioid crisis grows closer, Endo International (ENDP) agreed to a $10 million settlement with two Ohio counties that claimed the drug maker contributed to the problem by inappropriately marketing its addictive painkillers.

Ohio sues opioid makers, distributors — while giving them large tax breaks

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said he wants "a good settlement for Ohio", but the state is still preparing to move forward with civil cases against drug companies. His comments came Monday as he addressed the opioid epidemic that has ravaged the state.

Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost joined several other state attorneys general in a letter to Congress that requests increased health care access for people struggling with opioid addiction.