U.S. Court of Appeals rejects CVS's request to suspend order by Drug Enforcement Administration prohibiting two pharmacies in Sanford, Florida, from filling prescriptions for controlled substances

Cindy Allen

LOS ANGELES , March 22, 2012 (Industry Intelligence) – On March 22, the U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington rejected CVS Caremark Corp.’s request to suspend an order by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) that prohibited two pharmacies in Sanford, Florida from filling prescriptions for controlled substances during court proceedings, Bloomberg reported March 22.

A three-judge panel held that CVS had not fulfilled the “stringent requirements” necessary to suspend the order.

The DEA’s suspension on the sale of controlled substances at the two CVS pharmacies was upheld on March 13 by a lower court judge.

The suspension was imposed on Feb. 2 following an investigation by the DEA into oxycodone prescriptions filled at the two pharmacies.

CVS spokesperson Carolyn Castel did not respond to requests for a comment.

CVS alleged that the suspension was unnecessary because had it already stopped filling oxycodone prescriptions at the two pharmacies in question. In addition, the company indicated that it had also stopped filling prescriptions for the 22 doctors who were the most frequent prescribers of oxycodone.

Cardinal Health Inc., which supplied the two CVS pharmacies, has also had its license for the distribution of controlled substances suspended.

The primary source of this article is Bloomberg, New York, New York, on March 22, 2012.

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