CVS Pharmacy Inc. and several subsidiaries will pay $315 million to resolve a Justice Department lawsuit accusing the healthcare giant of unlawfully dispensing medically unnecessary prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances.

The lawsuit, filed in 2024 under President Joe Biden’s administration, alleged CVS violated the Controlled Substances Act by filling illegitimate prescriptions for powerful opioids, including high-dose prescriptions that contributed to dependence and addiction. Federal officials accused the company of dispensing large quantities of drugs based on prescriptions from known “pill mills,” which issue medications without legitimate medical purposes.

Prosecutors also alleged that inadequate staffing, performance targets, and employee incentive policies encouraged pharmacists to fill prescriptions quickly without properly verifying their legitimacy. The lawsuit said many of the prescriptions were billed to and reimbursed by Medicaid and other federal healthcare programs.

“Today's settlement is a significant milestone in the Justice Department's efforts to combat the opioid epidemic by cracking down on pharmacies that unlawfully fulfill prescriptions for controlled substances,” Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward said Tuesday.

As part of the agreement, CVS must implement additional safeguards to ensure prescriptions for opioids and other controlled substances are dispensed only when medically appropriate, according to Assistant Attorney General Brett Shumate, who leads the Justice Department’s Civil Division.

CVS said its pharmacists receive training on the safe and appropriate use of medications and that the company has established programs to help them make decisions on behalf of patients. The company strongly disputed the lawsuit’s allegations and emphasized that the settlement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing.

In 2024, CVS argued that pharmacists were being held to “vague, undefined, and ever-changing standards of practice” when deciding whether to fill opioid prescriptions.

The settlement is part of a broader federal and state effort to hold companies accountable for their alleged roles in the nation’s opioid crisis. Over the past decade, drugmakers, distributors, pharmacies and other businesses have reached settlements with U.S. governments totaling more than $50 billion, with much of the money intended to fund addiction treatment, prevention and other responses to the crisis.

The federal government has also reached settlements with other major pharmacy chains, including Walgreens and Walmart. The opioid crisis has been linked to more than 100,000 deaths in some years, although overdose deaths have declined sharply in recent years.