Pharmacy giant Walgreens has reached a $300 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that it had met millions of invalid opioids and other drug prescriptions during the US opioid epidemic.
The lawsuit filed against Walgreens involved several agencies and prosecutors across the country, including Florida.
“Drugs are legally responsible for prescribing controlled substances in a safe and professional way, rather than dispensing dangerous drugs just for profit,” U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondy said in a DOJ news release announcing the settlement Monday. “This Department of Justice is committed to ending the opioid crisis and holding bad actors accountable for not protecting patients from addiction.”
Court records claimed that between August 2012 and March 2023, Walgreens fulfilled an invalid prescription between August 2012 and March 2023.
According to court records, Walgreens also filed false claims with multiple federal health programs by seeking reimbursements for prescriptions, including programs aimed at Medicare and the US military members and federal employees.
The US law firm for the Central District of Florida, including Orlando, took part in the lawsuit against Walgreens.
“This groundbreaking private settlement is the largest controlled substances law resolution in our district’s history and we once again acknowledge the priorities our office has placed on those facing off against those in charge of the opioid crisis here,” Attorney Gregory Keho said in a statement.
As part of the lawsuit, DOJ took on four whistleblower cases from former Walgreen employees, including one from Central Florida. In the Southern Florida district, another whistleblower case was filed by Elmer Mosley, who retired from Walgreens in 2018 after working for 42 years in the Pharmacy Industry in the Southern Florida district, court records show.
In addition to the $300 million, Walgreens will need to pay an additional $50 million if the company was sold, merged or transferred prior to fiscal year 2032.
Walgreens will also need to follow compliance measures over the next seven years. These include verifying that, according to release, pharmacy personnel are sufficient to enable pharmacy employees to comply with their legal obligations, and that in accordance with release, pharmacy employees verify that pharmacy staff is sufficient to staff the pharmacy.
They also need to maintain a system that allows them to block prescriptions from prescribers who find Walgreens writes prescriptions for illegal controlled substances.
The DOJ argued that Walgreens systematically pressured the pharmacist to quickly fill a prescription of a controlled substance without the time required to verify the validity of each prescription. According to a DOJ’s 300-page complaint, fostered a corporate culture where pharmacists who enthusiastically observed the responsibility for verifying the legitimacy of controlled substance prescriptions were fostered.
The department also said Walgreens is preventing pharmacists from warning others.
