According to the complaint, “Walgreens and CVS violated these duties of care by dispensing extremely large amounts of opioids from their retail pharmacy stores in Florida.” (Photo: Shutterstock)
As the opioid crisis continues to take an economic toll on our country, many states are cracking down on those they feel are responsible for the worsening epidemic and recoup some of the cost of cleaning it up. The latest culprits in the hot seat? Pharmaceutical giants Walgreens and CVS.
Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday filed an amended complaint against opioid manufacturers and distributors to include Insys Therapeutics Inc., Walgreens Co., CVS Healthcare Corp. and CVS Pharmacy, Inc. as additional defendants.
“We will continue to pursue those companies that played a role in creating the opioid crisis,” Bondi said in a press release. “Thousands of Floridians have suffered as a result of the actions of the defendants.”
The amended complaint alleges that Insys provided kickbacks to doctors in exchange for doctors writing prescriptions for its opioid product, Subsys. The amended complaint alleges that Walgreens 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 and CVS dispensed unreasonable quantities of opioids from their pharmacies.
In the amended complaint, the Attorney General's Office added claims for gross negligence and civil conspiracy against the defendants.
“Walgreens and CVS violated their duties under state law not only in their capacities as distributors, but in their capacities as dispensing pharmacies,” the complaint states. “Pharmacists serve as the last line of defense between dangerous opioids and the public. For this reason, they are subject to duties under the common law and duties under Chapter 465, Florida Statutes, to take special care before dispensing these addictive and dangerous drugs.
“Walgreens and CVS violated these duties of care by dispensing extremely large amounts of opioids from their retail pharmacy stores in Florida…all while claiming misleadingly to the public that they were fulfilling their duties as pharmacists,” the compliant continues, providing details of the alleged violations.
CVS spokesman Mike DeAngelis called the lawsuit “without merit” in a statement Saturday, according to the Associated Press. He said the company trains its pharmacists and their assistants about their responsibilities when dispensing controlled substances and gives them tools to detect potentially illegal sales.
“Over the past several years, CVS has taken numerous actions to strengthen our existing safeguards to help address the nation's opioid epidemic,” DeAngelis said.
Walgreens told the Associated Press on Saturday that it doesn't comment on pending lawsuits.
Bondi in May 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.
“Opioid use has had tragic consequences for communities across Florida, and the state has been forced to expend enormous sums as a result of the opioid crisis,” the amended complaint states. “The crisis has a cause: defendants cooperated to sell and ship ever-increasing quantities of opioids into Florida.”
“To create newfound demand for opioids, defendants used unfair and misleading marketing…to meet the artificially inflated demand, defendants sold, shipped and dispensed opioids in quantities that could not possibly have been medically justified and in the face of clear evidence that opioids were being diverted for illegitimate uses,” the compliant continues. “Defendants' plan succeeded, and they recorded multibillion-dollar profits as a result. The state brings this suit to hold defendants accountable for having created and exacerbated the opioid crisis, and to require them to remediate and abate the harms that the crisis has inflicted — and continues to inflict — on the state and its citizens.”
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Katie Kuehner-Hebert
Katie Kuehner-Hebert is a freelance writer based in Running Springs, Calif. She has more than three decades of journalism experience, with particular expertise in employee benefits and other human resource topics.
