California wants to revoke a CVS mail-order license for illegally filling opioid and ADHD prescriptions

https://www.statnews.com/pharmalot/2022/12/21/cvs-adhd-opioids-california-prescriptions/

The California Board of Pharmacy has filed a complaint accusing CVS Caremark of neglecting red flags that should have given the PBM and mail-order pharmacy “reason to know or suspect that numerous controlled substances … were not issued for a legitimate medical purpose” from July 2018 through July 2021. The drugs included the anxiety drug alprazolam (Xanax—Pfizer), the ADHD drug amphetamine/dextroamphetamine (Adderall—Shire), and opioid analgesics such as hydromorphone (Dilaudid—Rhodes Pharmaceuticals) and acetaminophen/oxycodone (Percocet—Endo Pharmaceuticals).

The board wants the license for the CVS unit to be revoked or at least suspended. The board also wants to prohibit certain CVS Health leaders from serving as an officer or manager in connection with that particular CVS license for 5 years, if the unit is placed on probation or until the license is reinstated.

In addition, records show the mail-order unit shipped more than 2,100 prescriptions prematurely to patients, according to the board. CVS also allegedly violated a law that requires controlled substances to be prescribed to state residents only by prescribers licensed in California. The board found that just three of the top 100 providers whose prescriptions were handled by the CVS unit held licenses to practice medicine in California, at least during part of the time that the investigation took place. The remainder were not allowed to practice medicine without restrictions in California, according to the complaint.

Filed under: General Problems