CVS Agrees to $3.5 Million Settlement Linked to Fake Prescriptions
June 30 2016 - 3:10PM
Dow Jones News
By Ezequiel Minaya
Federal prosecutors in Massachusetts said Thursday that CVS
Pharmacy Inc. has agreed to pay $3.5 million to settle allegations
that 50 of its stores in the state and New Hampshire filled
hundreds of fake prescriptions over a three-year period for
addictive pain killers and other controlled substances.
A message seeking comment from CVS was not immediately
returned.
Authorities in the U.S. Attorney's office in the District of
Massachusetts said the fraudulent prescriptions were filled between
2011 and 2014 for drugs with a total street value of over $1
million. Two investigations by the Drug Enforcement Administration
found a total of 523 forged prescriptions involving 50 CVS
stores.
Prosecutors said the prescriptions were traced to "just a few
individuals," who were not identified in the statement announcing
the settlement. It was not immediately clear if there were any
arrests in connection with the case. Some of the drugs obtained
included oxycodone, hydrocodone and methadone.
Prosecutors alleged that simple due diligence would have
uncovered the fraudulent nature of the fake prescriptions. In
addition to the financial settlement, CVS has entered into a
three-year compliance agreement with the DEA that requires the
drugstore chain to maintain and enhance programs it has developed
to stop the diversion of controlled substances, authorities
said.
Write to Ezequiel Minaya at Ezequiel.Minaya@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
June 30, 2016 14:55 ET (18:55 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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