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CVS (CVS+0.74%) and its subsidies unlawfully dispensed “massive quantities” of opioids and other controlled substances over more than a decade, according to the Department of Justice.
The DOJ on Wednesday unsealed a civil complaint against the country’s largest pharmacy chain operator, alleging that the pharmaceutical company had filled invalid prescriptions since October 2013, violating the Controlled Substances Act. The complaint also alleges that CVS sought reimbursement from federal health care programs for the prescriptions, which would violate the False Claims Act.
Some of those prescriptions contained “extremely high doses and excessive quantities of potent opioids,” as well as “dangerous combinations” of opioids and other types of drugs, according to the complaint. That includes “trinity” prescriptions, a combination of opioids, a benzodiazepine, and a muscle relaxant.
The DOJ also alleges that CVS filled “at least thousands” of prescriptions written by prescribers it was aware were using “pill mill” practices, meaning a physician’s office that prescribes opioids without a necessary medical reason. CVS ignored evidence from multiple sources, including internal data and its own pharmacists, according to the complaint.
In one such case, the practices of Texas doctor Howard Diamond, who the complaint notes was among the top prescribers of hydrocodone and oxycodone in 2016, “raised numerous red flags.” Although CVS was made aware of his improper behavior as early as December 2014, with reports raising his name with a corporate authority over a dozen times, that board only recommended pharmacists stop filling Diamond’s prescriptions in July 2017.
However, a CVS medical director later directed the company to continue filling those prescriptions. It wasn’t until weeks after a federal grand jury indicted him for various federal crimes that CVS stopped instructing pharmacists to fill Diamond’s prescriptions, according to the complaint.
“Simply put, they put profits over their obligation to keep their customers safe,” Anne Milgram, who heads the Drug Enforcement Administration, said in a statement. “A pharmacy is the final step in the pharmaceutical distribution process that is in place to keep customers safe.”
CVS denied the allegations.
“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 company said in a statement. “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.”
The unsealed complaint comes a few days after the consultancy McKinsey & Co. agreed to pay $650 million to settle a federal probe into its role in helping boost sales of the opioid OxyContin for Purdue Pharma. In 2020, Purdue plead guilty to charges covering widespread misconduct in its handling of prescription painkillers. Purdue is currently working through court-ordered mediation after the Supreme Court threw out a $6 billion settlement in July.