Walgreens to pay $300 million to settle claims it illegally filled invalid opioids prescriptions

Walgreens Boots Alliance has agreed to pay $300 million to settle claims that it unlawfully filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances.

In its complaint, the Justice Department, along with other federal agencies, alleges that for more than a decade pharmacists at the second largest pharmacy chain in the U.S. knowingly filled prescriptions of controlled substances, despite clear signs of their illegitimacy. It also claims that Walgreens pressured its workers to fill the prescriptions quickly without regard for proper legal protocols.

“These practices allowed millions of opioid pills and other controlled substances to flow illegally out of Walgreens stores,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the DOJ’s Civil Division in a January statement.

Included in those prescriptions, the government says, were “excessive quantities of opioids” and prescriptions for “trinity” which is a triple-drug combination of opioids, benzodiazepines and muscle relaxants.