(Reuters) – Nevada has agreed to join a proposed nationwide settlement worth up to $26 billion resolving claims that three large U.S. drug distributors and the drugmaker Johnson & Johnson fueled a deadly opioid epidemic, the state’s attorney general said on Tuesday.

Nevada was one of a handful of states that until now was not participating in the landmark accord that would resolve thousands of opioid lawsuits against J&J, McKesson Corp, AmerisourceBergen Corp and Cardinal Health Inc.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Leslie Adler)