Walgreens has agreed to pay up to $350 million as part of a settlement with the U.S. Justice Department to resolve claims that the company illegally filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances and asked for payment for many of those invalid prescriptions by Medicare and other federal healthcare programs.
The DOJ said a $300 million settlement is based on Walgreens’ ability to pay and an additional $50 million will be owed if the company is sold, merged or transferred before fiscal year 2032.
“Pharmacies have a legal responsibility to prescribe controlled substances in a safe and professional manner, not dispense dangerous drugs just for profit,” Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. “This Department of Justice is committed to ending the opioid crisis and holding bad actors accountable for their failure to protect patients from addiction.”
WALGREENS SUED BY DOJ, ALLEGING IT KNOWINGLY FILLED ILLEGAL PRESCRIPTIONS INCLUDING ‘DANGEROUS’ OPIOIDS
The company was accused of filling millions of invalid prescriptions between August 2012 and March 2023 in violation of the Controlled Substances Act, according to the government’s complaint. These included prescriptions for excessive numbers of opioids and opioid prescriptions filled significantly early.
Walgreens pharmacists allegedly filled these prescriptions despite signs suggesting a high likelihood that the prescriptions were invalid because they lacked a legitimate medical purpose or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice, the DOJ said.
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The complaint also claims that Walgreens pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly and without taking time to confirm that each prescription was legal. Walgreens’ compliance officials also allegedly ignored evidence that its stores were dispensing illegal prescriptions and even intentionally deprived its own pharmacists of necessary information, including by refusing to share internal data about prescribers with pharmacists and preventing pharmacists from warning one another about certain prescribers.
The federal government said the lawsuit and resulting settlement were part of efforts to address the national opioid epidemic that has led to tens of thousands of deaths each year.
“This settlement resolves allegations that, for years, Walgreens failed to meet its obligations when dispensing dangerous opioids and other drugs,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael Granston of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said. “We will continue to hold accountable those entities and individuals whose actions contributed to the opioid crisis, whether through illegal prescribing, marketing, dispensing or distributing activities.”
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