McKesson Corp., one of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical distributors, has agreed to pay a record $150 million civil penalty for repeatedly failing to report suspicious orders of opioid painkillers, federal prosecutors announced today. The Justice Department says the company turned a blind eye to red flags for years, fueling the national opioid epidemic while prioritizing profits over public safety.
From 2008 to 2013, McKesson flooded pharmacies across the U.S. with escalating shipments of oxycodone and hydrocodone — two drugs at the heart of the addiction crisis — without properly monitoring or reporting suspicious purchasing patterns. Despite a prior $13.25 million settlement in 2008 for similar violations, the company failed to implement an effective compliance system, the DOJ alleges. In one glaring example, McKesson processed over 1.6 million controlled substance orders in Colorado yet reported only 16 as suspicious — all tied to a single terminated customer.
“The epidemic of opioid abuse is carving an increasingly destructive path through our country,” said U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman. “Given a chance to implement a more robust system for monitoring the distribution of these products, the company instead chose to ignore its own compliance regime in favor of a bigger bottom-line.” Fishman called the violations “too devastating to ignore,” justifying the historic penalty.
DEA Special Agent in Charge Carl J. Kotowski emphasized that pharmaceutical distributors are the first line of defense against prescription drug abuse. “If they turn a blind eye to suspicious orders, they are contributing to this epidemic,” Kotowski said. “This settlement sends a clear message that even corporations need to do their part.”
As part of the agreement, McKesson must suspend sales of controlled substances from distribution centers in Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, and Florida for multiple years — among the most severe sanctions ever imposed on a DEA-registered distributor. The company is also required to implement rigorous new compliance measures, including hiring additional compliance staff, conducting regular audits, and accepting financial penalties for future failures.
Critically, the settlement mandates that McKesson submit to oversight by an independent monitor — the first time such a provision has been included in a civil penalty under the Controlled Substances Act. The investigation spanned DEA field offices in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Miami, Newark, San Francisco, St. Louis, and Washington, D.C., with involvement from U.S. Attorney’s Offices in over a dozen federal districts, including New Jersey, where the case was coordinated in part by senior prosecutors.
RELATED: McKesson Pays $150M for Opioid Order Cover-Up
RELATED: McKesson Pays $150M for Opioid Distribution Failures
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- McKesson Pays $150M for Opioid Order Cover-Up · Colorado
- McKesson Pays $150M for Opioid Distribution Failures · Colorado
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Key Facts
- State: New Jersey
- Agency: DOJ USAO
- Category: Drug Trafficking
- Source: Official Source ↗
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