CLEVELAND (AP) — A federal judge in Ohio is ready to start talks on a possible settlement of hundreds of lawsuits brought against drugmakers and drug distributors over the nation’s opioid epidemic.

More than 250 lawsuits filed by communities across the country have been consolidated in the Cleveland courtroom of U.S. District Court Judge Dan Polster.

Polster planned Wednesday to bring together lawyers for municipal and state governments, drugmakers, drug distributors and others to start the conversation.

The judge has closed the discussions to the public and media since the aim is to broker a settlement.

The settlement talks come in the midst of the most widespread and deadly drug crisis in the nation’s history.

The government tallied 63,600 overdose drug deaths in 2016, another record.