By Dietrich Knauth

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Pharmacy chain Ceremony Support (NYSE:) has settled a important dispute with drug provider McKesson Corp (NYSE:) to make sure that clients’ prescriptions will proceed to be stuffed throughout Ceremony Support’s chapter, attorneys mentioned on Tuesday.

Ceremony Support, which filed for Chapter 11 chapter on Sunday night time in New Jersey, sued McKesson the next morning, in search of to cease it from terminating a drug provide settlement that accounts for 98% of the pharmacy chain’s prescription drug gross sales.

Joshua Sussberg, an lawyer for Ceremony Support, introduced the settlement at a Tuesday court docket listening to in Trenton, saying that McKesson would proceed supplying medicine at the least by means of the top of Ceremony Support’s chapter case. In trade, Ceremony Support will make sooner funds on new drug shipments and make sure that new deliveries are paid for earlier than it pays different collectors.

Ceremony Support is working to finalize the settlement and can submit it to the court docket for approval, Sussberg instructed U.S. Chapter Choose Michael Kaplan, who’s overseeing the case.

Whereas the settlement solely covers the interval that Ceremony Support stays in chapter, it and McKesson will proceed to barter towards a longer-term resolution, Sussberg mentioned.

Ceremony Support, which has greater than 2,000 retail shops within the U.S., filed for chapter with a plan to shut underperforming shops, promote its pharmacy profit firm Elixir and resolve lawsuits over its sale of addictive opioid medicines.

The lawsuit towards McKesson alleged that the distributor improperly tried to terminate the drug provide settlement on Saturday, simply earlier than Ceremony Support declared chapter. Ceremony Support had accused McKesson of threatening to chop off its drug provide except it instantly paid $700 million for quantities due underneath the contract.

A McKesson spokesperson confirmed that the dispute has been resolved and that the corporate will proceed to make shipments throughout Ceremony Support’s chapter.

Ceremony Support has relied on McKesson for its medicine for 20 years, and paid McKesson $9 billion underneath the contract in 2023, in keeping with court docket filings. Ceremony Support mentioned it maintains very low drug stock, forcing it to depend on each day deliveries from McKesson.