US sues Rite Aid for allegedly missing ‘red flags’ in unlawful prescriptions

DoJ alleges pharmacy chain knowingly filled prescriptions that were ‘medically unnecessary’, including opioids

The US government has sued Rite Aid, one of the nation’s largest pharmacy chains, for allegedly missing “red flags” when it knowingly filled unlawful drug prescriptions – including opioids and fentanyl – and ignored internal controls on its practices.

In a complaint filed on Monday, the federal justice department asserted that Rite Aid “filled at least hundreds of thousands of unlawful prescriptions for controlled substances that were medically unnecessary, lacked a medically accepted indication, or were not issued in the usual course of professional practice” between 2014 and 2019.