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Foulkes defends CVS record as $315 million opioid settlement reshapes Rhode Island race
Helena Foulkes says CVS did what it could to address suspicious opioid prescriptions while she led its pharmacy business, rejecting federal allegations against the company. The settlement has become a flashpoint in Rhode Island’s governor’s race, though Foulkes was not named in the lawsuit.
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Democratic gubernatorial candidate Helena Foulkes defended her record at CVS on Friday after the Woonsocket-based pharmacy chain agreed to pay $315 million to settle federal allegations tied to opioid prescriptions.
Foulkes, who led CVS Pharmacy during part of the period at issue, said the company took the crisis seriously and that pharmacists faced difficult decisions about prescriptions. “I think that CVS did everything it could,” she said in a television interview, while acknowledging that the company’s response was not perfect.
Federal prosecutors in Rhode Island filed suit in late 2024, alleging CVS ignored warnings and improperly filled thousands of opioid prescriptions beginning in 2013. The government also alleged that the company prioritized profits over patient safety, had too few pharmacists and restricted pharmacists’ ability to share information about problem prescribers. Foulkes was not named in the lawsuit. CVS has denied wrongdoing and disputed the allegations.
Foulkes said CVS created a team to analyze prescription data and support pharmacists, and that the company stopped filling prescriptions from more than 600 doctors it considered “pill mill” prescribers. She said CVS brought those doctors to the Drug Enforcement Administration, but that the agency did not act on the company’s concerns. Foulkes left CVS in 2018 and said she had no discussions with the company about the lawsuit or settlement.
The settlement has become a campaign issue in the race to succeed Gov. Dan McKee. McKee made the lawsuit a central theme in his unsuccessful Democratic primary campaign against Foulkes. Republican Aaron Guckian and independent candidate Ken Block have also pressed her to answer questions about her leadership at CVS.
Asked whether the federal case got CVS’s conduct wrong, Foulkes said, “I do. I think that CVS did everything it could.” She rejected the suggestion that she was a “bad actor” involved in fraud, and said the opioid crisis was already underway when she became president of the retail business.
Foulkes said she feels for families affected by the crisis, but objected to opponents making the issue political. She also said she wishes she could have done more. The Justice Department said the settlement holds accountable those responsible for fraudulent activity; CVS’s denial of wrongdoing and Foulkes’ account of the company’s response stand in contrast to the government’s allegations.