
The U.S. Justice Department has filed a complaint against Walgreens for dispensing millions of unlawful prescriptions including opioid pills with clear “red flags.”
In a civil complaint filed Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, the Justice Department alleges that Walgreens Boots Alliance, Walgreen Co. and various subsidiaries (collectively, Walgreens) dispensed the unlawful prescriptions in violation of the Controlled Substances Act and then sought reimbursement for many of these prescriptions from various federal health care programs in violation the False Claims Act.
The complaint alleges that Walgreens’s actions helped to fuel the prescription opioid crisis and that, in some particularly tragic instances, patients died after overdosing on opioids shortly after filling unlawful prescriptions at Walgreens.
Examples of opioids include morphine, heroin, codeine, oxycodone, hydrocodone and fentanyl.
If Walgreens is found liable, it could face civil penalties of up to $80,850 for each unlawful prescription filled in violation of the CSA and treble damages and applicable penalties for each prescription paid by federal programs in violation of the FCA. The court also may award injunctive relief to prevent Walgreens from committing further CSA violations.
“This lawsuit seeks to hold Walgreens accountable for the many years that it failed to meet its obligations when dispensing dangerous opioids and other drugs,” said Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “Our complaint alleges that Walgreens pharmacists filled millions of controlled substance prescriptions with clear red flags that indicated the prescriptions were highly likely to be unlawful, and that Walgreens systematically pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions, including controlled substance prescriptions, without taking the time needed to confirm their validity.”
Walgreens is one of the country’s largest pharmacy chains, with more than 8,000 pharmacies across the United States.
The government’s complaint alleges that, for more than a decade, Walgreens knowingly filled millions of prescriptions for controlled substances that lacked a legitimate medical purpose, were not valid, and/or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice.
Among the millions of unlawful prescriptions that Walgreens allegedly filled were prescriptions for dangerous and excessive quantities of opioids, prescriptions for early refills of opioids and prescriptions for the especially dangerous and abused combination of drugs known as the “trinity,” which is made up of an opioid, a benzodiazepine and a muscle relaxant.
The complaint alleges that Walgreens pharmacists filled these prescriptions despite clear “red flags” that indicated that the prescriptions were highly likely to be unlawful. Walgreens allegedly ignored substantial evidence from multiple sources that its stores were dispensing unlawful prescriptions, including from its own pharmacists and internal data.
The complaint further alleges that Walgreens systematically pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly without taking the time needed to confirm each prescription’s validity.
Walgreens also allegedly deprived its pharmacists of crucial information, including by preventing pharmacists from warning one another about certain prescribers.
“The Justice Department has prioritized both combating the opioid crisis and upholding corporate accountability, and the action we are announcing today affirms our resolve,” said First Assistant U.S. Attorney Maya D. Song for the Eastern District of Virginia. “My office is pleased to partner with our colleagues from across the nation to confront these issues and deter pharmacies and pharmacists from failing to honor their obligation to ensure that these dangerous drugs are only provided to those with a true medical need.”
Four different whistleblowers who previously worked for Walgreens in various parts of the country filed whistleblower actions under the qui tam provisions of the FCA. Those provisions authorize private parties to sue on behalf of the United States for false claims and share in any recovery. The Act permits the United States to intervene and take over such lawsuits, as it has done here.
The four cases have been consolidated and are captioned United States ex rel. Novak v. Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. No. 18 C 5452 (NDIL).
Other manufacturers and distributors have faced similar opioid complaints including Food City, Kroger, Indivior, Himka Pharmaceuticals, Publicis Health, McKinsey and Purdue Pharma.
Tips and complaints from all sources about potential fraud, waste, abuse and mismanagement may be reported at (800) 447-8477.
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