Family Discount Pharmacy, Inc. (“FDP”), which operated a pharmacy in Mount Gay, Logan County, has agreed to pay civil monetary penalties to resolve allegations that the pharmacy violated the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) by filling illegitimate prescriptions. FDP ceased operating in 2019 during the course of the federal investigation. Pursuant to the terms of the settlement agreement, FDP agreed to pay $310,000 to resolve allegations that it had filled prescriptions for controlled substances that were not valid at its Mount Gay location between January 2013 and December 2018. During this time, FDP filled prescriptions for opioids and other controlled “that were not written for a legitimate medical purpose by practitioners acting in the usual course of their professional medical practices and FDP’s Pharmacist in Charge, Earl Claycomb, filled said prescriptions knowing or having reason to know that the prescriptions were not written for a legitimate purpose, in violation of 21 C.F.R. § 1306.04(a) and 21 U.S.C. § 842(a)(1),” according to the settlement agreement.
The CSA prohibits the distribution or dispensing of a controlled substance without a valid prescription. A valid prescription for a controlled substance must be issued for a legitimate medical purpose by an individual practitioner acting in the usual course of his or her practice. The investigation indicated that the pharmacist-in-charge at the pharmacy knew or had reason to know that patients had presented illegitimate prescriptions that should not have been filled.
