U.S. alleges Rite Aid knowingly filled unnecessary opioid prescriptions, ignored red flags

One of the country's largest pharmacy chains knowingly filled unlawful prescriptions and ignored internal red flags on its practices, the Justice Department alleged in a complaint filed Monday.

The complaint against Rite Aid was part of a whistleblower lawsuit brought against the company under the False Claims Act and the Controlled Substances Act, the Justice Department said in a news release.

From May 2014 until June 2019, the federal government claims 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."