The Department of Justice (DOJ) has filed suit against CVS, alleging that the retail giant unlawfully dispensed opioid prescriptions.
In the lawsuit, which was newly unsealed this week, the DOJ argues that beginning in October 2013 and through the present day, CVS pharmacies filled opioid prescriptions that "lacked a legitimate medical purpose" or were not prescribed as part of "the usual course of professional practice."
The DOJ alleges that among these unlawful prescriptions were "dangerous and excessive quantities of opioids" and early refills for opioids. It also said that CVS filled so-called "trinity" prescriptions, which are a frequently abused combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine and a muscle relaxant.
The lawsuit also alleges that CVS filled prescriptions for controlled substances that came from prescribers it was aware were "pill mills."
"This lawsuit alleges that CVS failed to exercise its critical role as gatekeeper of dangerous prescription opioids and, instead, facilitated the illegal proliferation of these highly addictive drugs, including by pill mill prescribers," said U.S. Attorney Zachary A. Cunha for the District of Rhode Island in a press release. "When corporations such as CVS prize profits over patient safety and overburden their pharmacy staff so that they cannot carry out the basic responsibility of ensuring that prescriptions are legitimate, we will use every tool at our disposal to see that they answer for it.”
The lawsuit said the alleged violations stem from performance metrics mandated by CVS, incentives payments for employees and "staffing policies that prioritized corporate profits over patient safety." The DOJ said that CVS set its staffing levels too low, which made it difficult for pharmacists to meet both performance goals and legal obligations.
A CVS Health spokesperson called the lawsuit "misguided" in a statement to Fierce Healthcare.
"We have cooperated with the DOJ’s investigation for more than four years, and we strongly disagree with the allegations and false narrative within this complaint," the spokesperson said. "We will defend ourselves vigorously against this misguided federal lawsuit, which follows on the heels of years of litigation over these issues by state and local governments—claims that already have been largely resolved by a global agreement with the participating state Attorneys General."
CVS and rival Walgreens agreed to a settlement in November 2022 for a combined $10 billion that resolved allegations over their role in the opioid epidemic in multiple states.
"The government’s lawsuit intensifies a serious dilemma for pharmacists, who are simultaneously second-guessed for dispensing too many opioids, and too few," the spokesperson said.