Opioid legal charge pushes Walgreens to $3.7B fiscal 1Q loss

By TOM MURPHY
AP Health Writer

A huge opioid settlement dragged Walgreens to a $3.7 billion loss in its fiscal first quarter, but the drugstore chain still beat Wall Street forecasts. The company also reaffirmed its earnings forecast for the new year. Walgreens said Thursday that it recorded a $5.2 billion charge in the quarter that ended Nov. 30 for opioid-related litigation. Walgreens and rival CVS Health Corp. finalized last month a settlement with state and local governments to resolve lawsuits over opioid abuse. Drugstores were subject to claims that they should have realized they were filling too many opioid prescriptions.