Walgreens done agreed to pay up to $350 million in a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, who accused the pharmacy of illegally filling millions of prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances. The nationwide drugstore chain must pay the government at least $300 million and will owe another $50 million if the company is sold, merged or transferred before 2032, according to the settlement reached last Friday. The government’s complaint, filed in January in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, alleges that Walgreens knowingly filled millions of illegal prescriptions for controlled substances between August 2012 and March 2023.
“We strongly disagree with the government’s legal theory and admit no liability,” Walgreens spokesperson Fraser Engerman said in a statement. Amid slumping store visits and shrinking market share, Walgreens announced it was closing 1,200 stores around the country last October. The complaint says Walgreens pharmacists filled these prescriptions despite clear red flags that the prescriptions were highly likely to be invalid, and the company pressured its pharmacists to fill them quickly. Walgreens then allegedly sought payment for many of the invalid prescriptions through Medicare and other federal healthcare programs in violation of the False Claims Act, according to the government.
The U.S. Justice Department has moved to dismiss its complaint in light of Friday’s settlement. “Pharmacies have a legal responsibility to prescribe controlled substances in a safe and professional manner, not dispense dangerous drugs just for profit,” said Attorney General Pamela Bondi in a statement. The settlement resolves four cases brought by former Walgreens employee whistleblowers.
