On April 21, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced a landmark False Claims Act settlement with Walgreens in which the pharmacy giant agreed to pay up to $350 million to settle allegations that it illegally filled millions of invalid prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances.
The settlement resolves four qui tam whistleblower lawsuits filed against Walgreens. The suits were filed from 2019 and 2023 and were consolidated into one case by the United States government in 2024.
According to the DOJ, Walgreens “knowingly filled millions of unlawful controlled substance prescriptions” including “prescriptions for excessive quantities of opioids, opioid prescriptions filled significantly early, and prescriptions for the especially dangerous and abused combination of three drugs known as a ‘trinity.’”
The DOJ further claims that “Walgreens pharmacists allegedly filled these prescriptions despite clear red flags indicating a high likelihood that the prescriptions were invalid because they lacked a legitimate medical purpose or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice.”
The DOJ charged Walgreens with violating the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) and, because it sought payment for many of the invalid prescriptions by Medicare and other federal health care programs, with violating the False Claims Act.
Walgreens agreed to pay $150 million in CSA penalties and $150 million in FCA damages. It will pay the U.S. an additional $50 million if the company is sold, merged, or transferred prior to fiscal year 2032.
“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. “This Department of Justice is committed to ending the opioid crisis and holding bad actors accountable for their failure to protect patients from addiction.”
“This settlement resolves allegations that, for years, Walgreens failed to meet its obligations when dispensing dangerous opioids and other drugs,” said Deputy Assistant Attorney General Michael Granston of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “We will continue to hold accountable those entities and individuals whose actions contributed to the opioid crisis, whether through illegal prescribing, marketing, dispensing or distributing activities.”
The False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions enable private citizens and private parties to file lawsuits on behalf of the government if they know of an individual or company defrauding the government. Qui tam whistleblowers are eligible to receive between 15 and 30% of the government’s recovery.
In this settlement, the whistleblowers shared an award of 17% of the FCA recoveries which totaled over $25 million.
During FY 2024, settlements and judgments under the False Claims Act exceeded $2.9 billion and over $2.4 billion of the recoveries stemmed from qui tam whistleblower lawsuits. Furthermore, according to the government, a record 979 qui tam lawsuits were filed in FY 2024.
However, in September 2024, a district judge in Florida ruled that the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions were unconstitutional. The U.S. federal government is urging the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit to reverse that decision, stating in a brief that “other than the district court here, every court to have addressed the constitutionality of the False Claims Act’s qui tam provisions has upheld them.”
National Whistleblower Center has issued an Action Alert allowing whistleblower supporters to write the members of Congress urging them to protect and strengthen and protect the False Claims Act.
The claims asserted in this case are allegations only, and there has been no determination of liability.
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