CVS has settled a lawsuit alleging that it “illegally filled” prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances and was reimbursed for “many” of them by federal healthcare programs, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) announced yesterday.
The US pharmacy chain has agreed to pay $315m to resolve the allegations, with the DOJ noting that there has been “no determination of liability” following the settlement.
The DOJ’s complaint was filed in December 2024 and alleged that CVS “knowingly filled 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”.
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C+D reported at the time that the DOJ said CVS’s actions “helped to fuel the opioid crisis” and the company had “prioritised corporate profits over patient safety”.
DOJ civil division assistant attorney General Brett A. Shumate said the settlement “requires CVS to implement additional safeguards to ensure that prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances are dispensed only when medically appropriate”.
He said the “remedial measures” will provide “critical protections for patients and federal healthcare programs”, and the DOJ will continue to “take steps to prevent the unlawful dispensing of opioids”.
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In addition to the monetary settlement, CVS has entered into an agreement with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that requires the chain to “establish a hotline” for employees and the public to report “suspected illegal dispensing of controlled substances”.
The DOJ said CVS must also “proactively monitor the dispensing patterns of its pharmacies to identify and address potentially illegal dispensing” and introduce a “process to evaluate prescribers suspected of illegal prescribing”.
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DEA assistant administrator Cheri Oz said the settlement holds CVS “accountable for dispensing unlawful prescriptions and endangering the public”.
CVS told C+D it is “pleased to move forward” and “put this litigation behind us”.
“We strongly disagree with the claims made in this case, and our settlement with the DOJ admits no wrongdoing,” it added.
“Held accountable”
The 2024 DOJ lawsuit alleged that CVS dispensed “dangerous and excessive” quantities of opioids, filled in opioid prescriptions “too early” and dispensed “trinity” prescriptions that included a “dangerous and abused” combination of an opioid, a benzodiazepine and a muscle relaxant.
The DOJ said CVS pharmacists filled controlled substance prescriptions from “pill mill” prescribers who issued large numbers of prescriptions “without any medical purpose”, and did nothing about them “despite clear red flags” that they were illegitimate.
The lawsuit claimed that “corporate-mandated performance metrics, incentive compensation and staffing policies” saw CVS prioritise “corporate profits over patient safety”, adding that the chain “set staffing levels far too low for pharmacists to both meet their performance metrics and comply with their legal obligations”.
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It also alleged that one of CVS’s policies “prevented pharmacists from warning one another about certain problematic prescribers”.
The settlement also resolves the lawsuit filed by ex-CVS employee Hillary Estright, who acted as a whistleblower in the case before the US government intervened and investigated.
It comes after the US DOJ filed a lawsuit in January 2025 against Boots’ previous owners Walgreens Boots Alliance, alleging that it “knowingly filled millions of prescriptions that lacked a legitimate medical purpose”.
