Walmart has agreed to pay a $50 million settlement to resolve allegations that its pharmacies illegally filled thousands of prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The government complaint, first filed at the end of President Donald Trump's first term and later amended during former President Joe Biden's term, accused Walmart of violating the Controlled Substances Act (CSA), the 1970 federal statute that regulates the manufacture and dispensing of controlled substances and requires pharmacies to guard against invalid prescriptions.

"Today's settlement proves this department is committed to putting Americans' flourishing first," Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said in a statement. "Congress enacted laws to promote responsibility and accountability for companies who dispense controlled substances to protect Americans."

"This department will never shy away from vigorously enforcing pharmacies' obligations to comply with those protections, ensuring that potential profits never justify aiding our nation's opioid epidemic," Woodward added.

The case is part of a broader wave of federal and state enforcement actions against drug distributors and pharmacy chains over their roles in the opioid crisis, which has been linked to hundreds of thousands of overdose deaths in the United States since the late 1990s, according to public health authorities.

According to the complaint, Walmart had been filling invalid prescriptions since June 2013, with the knowledge of both its pharmacists and its compliance team. The DOJ said some Walmart pharmacists reported the alleged illegal activity to the company's corporate compliance team, including through thousands of "refusal-to-fill" forms.

"The compliance team, however, prioritized other goals over CSA compliance," the DOJ said. "As one director on the compliance team acknowledged in an email, rather than analyzing the refusal-to-fill reports, the compliance team viewed '[d]riving sales and patient awareness,' as 'a far better use of our Market Directors and Market manger's time.'"

The DOJ also alleged that pharmacists knowingly filled invalid prescriptions from "pill mill" prescribers, as well as prescriptions that carried red flags — including dangerous opioid and non-opioid "cocktails," repeated early fill requests for frequently abused drugs, and high dosages of opioids.

As part of the settlement, the DOJ said Walmart entered into an agreement to establish a hotline allowing employees and patients to report suspected illegal activity. The company is also required to proactively monitor pharmacy dispensing patterns. Under such settlements, the compliance obligations — not just the financial penalty — often represent the most consequential terms for national retailers, since they can shape pharmacy operations across thousands of stores.

Walmart did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.

Source: Fox Business