The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against CVS on Wednesday, accusing the pharmacy chain of filling illegal opioid prescriptions and billing federal health insurance programs, contributing to the nationwide opioid epidemic. The lawsuit, unsealed in federal court in Providence, Rhode Island, alleges that from October 2013 to the present, CVS violated the federal Controlled Substances Act by filling prescriptions for dangerous quantities and combinations of opioids without legitimate medical reason.
The complaint claims that CVS regularly filled prescriptions from doctors running “pill mills” and ignored red flags due to company-mandated performance metrics. In some cases, patients allegedly overdosed and died shortly after receiving illegal prescriptions. CVS, which previously agreed to pay nearly $5 billion in 2022 to settle similar claims from state, local, and tribal governments, denies the allegations, stating it disagrees with the complaint’s narrative.
The lawsuit originated from a whistleblower complaint by a former CVS employee. It states that CVS maintained insufficient staffing and pressured pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly, often disregarding legitimacy. Employees reportedly warned of safety issues, comparing the rushed process to “McDonald’s” assembly lines. Despite internal warnings about doctors under investigation, CVS continued filling prescriptions from those doctors, including one in Alabama who was arrested in 2016.
The complaint also highlighted the deaths of 10 individuals allegedly linked to CVS filling illegal opioid prescriptions. Since 1999, over 800,000 people in the U.S. have died from opioid overdoses, though recent data shows a decline in overdose deaths.
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