The U.S. Department of Justice filed a lawsuit on Friday accusing Walgreens of filling hundreds of thousands of illegal opioid prescriptions.
The civil swimsuit filed within the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois Walgreen Boots Alliance, Walgreen Co. and its varied subsidiaries alleges the pharmacy big knowingly crammed hundreds of thousands of illegal prescriptions for managed substances from roughly August 2012 by to the current. Walgreens allegedly crammed prescriptions for harmful and extreme portions of opioids, the lawsuit stated, together with early refills amongst different prescriptions.
“Our criticism alleges that Walgreens pharmacists crammed hundreds of thousands of managed substance prescriptions with clear pink flags that indicated the prescriptions had been extremely more likely to be illegal, and that Walgreens systematically pressured its pharmacists to fill prescriptions, together with managed substance prescriptions, with out taking the time wanted to substantiate their validity,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division said in a statement. “These practices allowed hundreds of thousands of opioid capsules and different managed substances to movement illegally out of Walgreens shops.”
Walgreens pharmacists crammed these illegal prescriptions regardless of clear “pink flags,” the criticism alleges, and the pharmacy big ignored substantial proof from a number of sources that its shops had been dishing out illegal prescriptions, together with from its personal pharmacists and inside information, the swimsuit claims.
Pharmacists had been pressured to fill prescriptions rapidly with out taking the time wanted to substantiate every prescription’s validity, the criticism stated. Walgreens additionally disadvantaged pharmacists of essential data and prevented them from warning each other about sure prescribers.
Four completely different whistleblowers who beforehand labored for Walgreens in varied elements of the nation filed whistleblower actions, the assertion stated.
Walgreens responded to the lawsuit in an announcement on its web site which learn that it stands “behind our pharmacists, devoted healthcare professionals who stay within the communities they serve, filling official prescriptions for FDA-approved medicines written by DEA-licensed prescribers in accordance with all relevant legal guidelines and laws.”
“We look ahead to the chance to defend the professionalism and integrity of our pharmacists,” the statement said.
Last month the Justice Department filed a similar lawsuit against CVS, alleging the pharmacy chain crammed prescriptions with harmful and extreme portions of opioids, agreed to fill opioid prescriptions early and made “trinity prescriptions,” that are a harmful mixture of medicine.
Walgreens is likely one of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains, with over 8,000 pharmacies throughout the U.S. Walgreens plans to close hundreds of stores by the tip of 2025 to show round its flagging gross sales, and has already closed roughly 2,000 places over the previous decade, the corporate stated.
