Three major drug distributors—McKesson, Cardinal Health, and AmerisourceBergen—and drugmaker Johnson & Johnson this month reached a proposed $26 billion multistate agreement for their alleged roles in fueling the nationwide opioid epidemic. Equally significant to the monetary penalties are the compliance lessons the settlement imparts on the pharmaceutical industry at large.

Jaclyn Jaeger is a freelance contributor to Compliance Week after working for the company for 15 years. She writes on a wide variety of topics, including ethics and compliance, risk management, legal,...