The United States alleges that CVS has unlawfully dispensed and billed prescriptions for opioids to the government.
A freshly exposed accusation in Providence, Rhode Island's federal court claims that between October 2013 and the present, CVS has broken federal Controlled Substances Act regulations by dispensing excessive opioid dosages and mixing harmful drug combinations through prescription fills.
The complaint accuses the company of regularly filling prescriptions prescribed by doctors operating "pill mills," dispensing large amounts of opioids without a valid medical purpose.
The Justice Department alleges that CVS's infractions were fueled by performance metrics set by the company, which led to red flags being overlooked, and in some instances, patients succumbing to overdoses shortly after obtaining prescription drugs.
In response, CVS stated, "We have collaborated with the DOJ's investigation for over four years, and we firmly dispute the allegations and the inaccurate portrayal contained in this complaint."
In 2022, CVS agreed to shell out nearly $5 billion over a decade to settle numerous claims from state, local, and Native American tribal authorities, without accepting responsibility under the agreement, which was part of a series of nationwide settlements valued at approximately $46 billion between pharmacies, drug producers, and distributors.
The Justice Department's lawsuit, unveiled on Wednesday, initially stemmed from a whistleblower complaint lodged by a former CVS employee.
The lawsuit claims that CVS was understaffed and pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions as rapidly as possible without validating their legitimacy, and disregarded warnings from its own employees.
"Safety concerns arise when dealing with medication and also being rushed to fulfill an order like at McDonald's," one employee is said to have written. "CVS has created an assembly-line methodology for medication preparation and only focuses on profits."
The company continued to fill prescriptions for an Alabama doctor despite numerous internal warnings in 2015 that he was under investigation, and was eventually arrested the following year.
CVS proceeded to fill prescriptions for a Pennsylvania doctor in spite of internal alerts and negative online reviews that dubbed him as a "script writer without seeing the patient," a "pill pusher," and a "drunk."
The complaint mentioned 10 individual patients who it claimed died, allegedly after filling unlawful prescriptions for opioids and other substances at CVS.
Over 800,000 deaths due to opioid overdoses occurred in the United States between 1999 and 2023, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Preliminary data suggests that overdoses started to decrease in 2022.
The federal lawsuit against CVS also accuses the company of prioritizing business efficiency over patient safety, pushing pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly without proper verification. Furthermore, the settlement in 2022 included a large sum paid to various authorities, indicating the company's involvement in a broader issue related to opioid prescriptions.
