DOJ Files Federal Lawsuit Against AmerisourceBergen for Controlled Substances Act Violations

The US Department of Justice filed a major lawsuit against AmerisourceBergen, one of the country’s largest wholesale pharmaceutical distributors. 

The complaint, filed in the US District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, alleges that over the course of almost a decade, from 2014 until now, AmerisourceBergen violated the Controlled Substances Act repeatedly by failing to report hundreds of thousands of suspicious orders for controlled substances to the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) as required by law. The complaint alleges that the drug distributor filled and failed to report orders from pharmacies that it knew were likely facilitating the diversion of prescription opioids and ignored obvious red flags signaling drug diversion. The lawsuit is the result of a multiyear investigation by the DEA.

“Companies like AmerisourceBergen that sell controlled substances across the country have a significant responsibility to ensure that their product is handled appropriately and that they comply with their federal legal obligations,” said US Attorney Jacqueline C. Romero for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in a statement. “The allegations against AmerisourceBergen are disturbing, especially for a company that is headquartered only a few miles from neighborhoods in Philadelphia devastated by the opioid epidemic.”

The complaint also faults the drug distributor for relying on “internal systems to monitor and identify suspicious orders that were deeply inadequate, both in design and implementation.” The government alleges AmerisourceBergen prioritized profits over its legal responsibilities. The company faces civil penalties potentially reaching billions of dollars. 

“When drug distributors like AmerisourceBergen fail to alert the DEA of suspicious orders of prescription drugs by pharmacies, they shirk a key obligation in dealing with addictive drugs that can end lives,” said US Attorney Cole Finegan for the District of Colorado in a statement. “This complaint makes clear that the Department of Justice will continue to hold accountable corporations that disregard the public’s safety for their own profit.”

AmerisourceBergen responded, arguing, “The complaint filed by the Department of Justice attempts to shift the onus of interpreting and enforcing the law from the Department of Justice and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) to an industry they are tasked with regulating and policing.” The drug distributor also provided detailed context surrounding the 5 pharmacies used as examples in the complaint.