CVS agrees to pay $315 million to settle Justice Department case over
opioid prescriptions
[October 14, 2026]
By ALANNA DURKIN RICHER
WASHINGTON (AP) — CVS Pharmacy Inc. and various subsidiaries have agreed
to pay $315 million to resolve a Justice Department case alleging it
unlawfully dispensed medically unnecessary prescriptions of highly
addictive opioids, officials said Tuesday.
The settlement resolves a lawsuit brought in 2024 that accused the
healthcare giant of providing massive amounts of opioids and other
controlled substances “to fuel its own profits at the expense of public
health and safety.”
It’s the latest effort by the federal government to hold accountable
companies that officials have alleged helped fuel the U.S. addiction and
overdose crisis.
“Today’s settlement is a significant milestone in the Justice
Department’s efforts to combat the opioid epidemic by cracking down on
pharmacies who unlawfully fulfill prescriptions for controlled
substances," Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in an
emailed statement.
CVS said in a statement that its pharmacists were trained “in the safe
and appropriate use of all medications” and that it had implemented
“best-in-class” programs to help them “make the best decisions on behalf
of patients.”
The company said it strongly disagreed with the claims made in the
lawsuit and that the settlement admits no wrongdoing.
The company said in 2024 that pharmacists were being held to “vague,
undefined, and ever-changing standards of practice” when it comes to
filling prescription opioids.
The lawsuit filed under President Joe Biden's administration accused CVS
of violating the Controlled Substances Act by filling illegitimate
prescriptions for high doses of potent opioids that “fed dependence and
addiction.” The Justice Department alleged it dispensed large quantities
of opioids based on prescriptions from known “pill mills," or providers
that hand out prescriptions for drugs without a legitimate medical
purpose.
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 It alleged that poor staffing levels
coupled with performance metrics and incentive compensation policies
implemented by the company led to pharmacists racing to fill
prescriptions without confirming they were legitimate. The
prescriptions were often billed to and reimbursed by Medicaid and
other federal healthcare programs, the lawsuit says.
Under the settlement, CVS must also "implement additional safeguards
to ensure that prescriptions for opioids and other controlled
substances are dispensed only when medically appropriate,” Assistant
Attorney General Brett Shumate, who leads the Justice Department’s
Civil Division, said in a statement.
Over the last decade, drugmakers, wholesalers, pharmacies and other
companies have agreed to settlements with governments in the U.S.
totaling over $50 billion. Most of the money is intended to go to
address the crisis, which has been linked to more than 100,000
deaths in the U.S. some years, though the numbers have fallen
sharply recently.
Most of the settlements -- and dollars -- have been with state and
local governments, but the U.S. has reached several deals, including
in the last two years with the pharmacies Walgreens and Walmart.
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Associated Press reporter Geoff Mulvihill contributed to this report
from Philadelphia.
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