New Information Unveils CVS’ Role in Opioid Crisis
GoLocalProv News Team
New Information Unveils CVS’ Role in Opioid Crisis
“…Walgreens and CVS, and Walmart did almost nothing to fulfill their legal duty to monitor suspicious orders, the plaintiffs’ lawyers claim. While they were supposed to block such orders and alert the Drug Enforcement Administration, they did so rarely,” reports the New York Times.
“An official at CVS who was listed as the company’s D.E.A. compliance coordinator admitted that it was not her real job, the plaintiffs’ filing said. Much of the company’s compliance was relegated to “pickers and packers” — the warehouse workers at distribution centers who appeared to have no formal training in monitoring and rarely held up orders. In the company’s Indianapolis distribution center, approximately two orders were flagged each year from 2006 to 2014,” states the Times.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTWhile CVS was not alone, it was a major player.
Six companies distributed 75 percent of the opioids between 2006 and 2012 according to an analysis of the database by The Washington Post of the Drug Enforcement Administration’s database.
Those companies are McKesson Corp., Walgreens, Cardinal Health, AmerisourceBergen, CVS and Walmart.
CVS distributed 5.9 billion opioid pills — or 7.7 percent of all the opioids in the United States during this period.
“The database reveals what each company knew about the number of pills it was shipping and dispensing and precisely when they were aware of those volumes, year by year, town by town. In case after case, the companies allowed the drugs to reach the streets of communities large and small, despite persistent red flags that those pills were being sold in apparent violation of federal law and diverted to the black market, according to the lawsuits,” reports the Washington Post.
In November, GoLocal reported that in a separate lawsuit the Florida Attorney General alleged that CVS was a key player in the opioid crisis. The suit is separate from the consolidated city and county lawsuit.
Then-Attorney General Pam Bondi filed an amended complaint in the Pasco County Circuit Court action against opioid manufacturers and distributors. She left office in January.
A new law in Florida will assist the new Attorney General Ashley Moody’s case against CVS and others.
Under a law that took effect July 1, Moody will be able to access some patient information in a lawsuit against drug companies.
Florida claims drug manufacturers like Purdue Pharma and pharmacies like Walgreen and CVS contributed to the opioid crisis.
The amended complaint provides additional details of the defendants’ collective efforts to increase the supply of opioids in Florida and nationwide. Insys Therapeutics, Inc., Walgreens Co., CVS Healthcare Corp. and CVS Pharmacy, Inc. (“CVS”) are named as additional defendants for their roles in creating the opioid crisis.
The amended complaint alleges that Walgreens Co. and CVS were two of the largest opioid distributors in Florida and failed in their duties under Florida law to stop suspicious orders of opioids they received. The amended complaint also alleges that Walgreens Co. and CVS dispensed unreasonable quantities of opioids from their pharmacies.
“We will continue to pursue those companies that played a role in creating the opioid crisis,” said Bondi. “Thousands of Floridians have suffered as a result of the actions of the defendants.”
The amended complaint alleges that Insys Therapeutics, Inc. provided kickbacks to doctors in exchange for doctors writing prescriptions for its opioid product, Subsys.
In the amended complaint, the Attorney General’s Office added claims for gross negligence and civil conspiracy against the defendants.
CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis called the lawsuit "without merit" in comments to NBC News.
On Tuesday, May 15, 2018, Bondi filed her original action in state court against some of the nation’s largest opioid manufacturers and distributors for their role in the opioid crisis.