WASHINGTON (AP) — CVS Pharmacy Inc. and various subsidiaries have agreed to pay $315 million to resolve a Department of Justice case alleging he illegally dispensed medically unnecessary prescriptions for highly addictive opioids, officials said Tuesday.
The regulation resolves a lawsuit filed in 2024 which accused the healthcare giant of supplying massive quantities of opioids and other controlled substances “to fuel its own profits at the expense of public health and safety.”
It’s the latest effort by the federal government to hold accountable companies that officials say have helped fuel the U.S. addiction and overdose crisis.
“Today’s settlement is an important step in the Department of Justice’s efforts to combat the opioid epidemic by cracking down on pharmacies that illegally fill prescriptions for controlled substances,” Assistant Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in an emailed statement.
CVS said in a statement that its pharmacists are trained “in the safe and appropriate use of all medications” and that it has implemented “best-in-class” programs to help them “make the best decisions on behalf of patients.”
The company said it strongly disagreed with the allegations made in the lawsuit and that the settlement did not admit any wrongdoing.
The company said in 2024 that pharmacists were required to follow “vague, undefined and constantly evolving standards of practice” when it came to filling prescription opioids.
The lawsuit filed during President Joe Biden’s administration accused CVS of violating the Controlled Substances Act by filling illegitimate prescriptions for high doses of powerful opioids that “fueled dependence and addiction.” The Justice Department alleged that it distributed large quantities of opioids based on prescriptions from known “pill mills,” or providers who distribute drug prescriptions without a legitimate medical purpose.
He alleged that low staffing levels, coupled with performance metrics and incentive pay policies implemented by the company, led pharmacists to rush to fill prescriptions without confirming that they were legitimate. The prescriptions were often billed and reimbursed by Medicaid and other federal health programs, the lawsuit says.
Under the settlement, CVS must also “implement additional safeguards to ensure that prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances are issued only when medically appropriate,” Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, who heads the Justice Department’s civil division, said in a statement.
Over the past decade, drugmakers, wholesalers, pharmacies and other companies have struck deals with U.S. governments totaling more than $50 billion. Most of the money is intended to address the crisis, which has been linked to more than 100,000 deaths in the United States in some years, although the numbers have declined sharply recently.
Most of the deals — and dollars — have been with state and local governments, but the U.S. has several deals, including in the past two years with Walgreens and Walmart pharmacies.
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Associated Press reporter Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report from Philadelphia.
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