CVS Pharmacy has settled a case with the office of the Attorney General of Pennsylvania, which was investigating the keeping and sale of expired products, including infant formula and over-the-counter treatments and drugs. The settlement is valued at $450,000.
The AG's found during compliance visits that it conduced on pharmacies of the company in Pennsylvania that the stores seemed to routinely keep expired medical products and goods on its shelves. Expired products were found in five of six stores that were visited. What also caught the eye of the investigators was that some CVS employees appeared to skip a software check that had been incorporated to prevent the sale transaction of an expired good from being completed, The Bucks County Courier Times reported.
This finding meant that the terms of an agreement that the AG's office had reached with CVS in 2010 regarding the removal of expired products were infringed. That agreement had also called on CVS to implement processes to ensure that expired products were removed from their shelves and inventories.
The settlement imposes a new condition on CVS pharmacies in Pennsylvania. Should any customer find an expired product on its shelves, CVS will give that person a $3.50 coupon, with which they may purchase anything they wish. The settlement also requires the company to train all of its employees on the importance of removing expired goods. CVS is also to make changes to its internal processes to prevent such infringements from recurring in the future, according to The Intelligencer.
CVS appears to have had trouble with keeping expired products on its shelves in the past, too. It has previously settled similar claims with the Attorney Generals of New York, Maryland and Connecticut.
