The Department of Justice announced a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing pharmacy chain CVS of filling illegal opioid prescriptions and billing federal health insurance programs, contributing to a nationwide epidemic of opioid addiction and overdose. The newly unsealed complaint in Providence, Rhode Island, federal court alleges that, from October 2013 to the present, CVS violated the federal Controlled Substances Act by filling prescriptions for dangerous quantities of opioids and dangerous combinations of drugs. It said the company regularly filled prescriptions from doctors running so-called pill mills, dispensing large quantities of opioids without legitimate medical reason. The Justice Department said the violations were driven by company-mandated performance metrics that led to red flags being ignored, and that in some cases patients died of overdoses shortly after filling illegal prescriptions. "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," CVS said in a statement. CVS agreed in 2022 to pay close to $5 billion over 10 years to settle thousands of similar claims by state, local and Native American tribal governments. It did not admit wrongdoing under the deal, which was one of a series of nationwide settlements by pharmacies, drugmakers and distributors totaling about $46 billion.
