Walgreens Issues Statement Concerning DEA Agreement

Walgreens Issues Statement Concerning DEA Agreement

DEERFIELD, Ill.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Walgreens (NYS: WAG) (NAS: WAG) today released the following statement from Kermit Crawford, president of pharmacy, health and wellness:

"Today we reached an agreement with the DEA and the Department of Justice that settles and resolves all administrative and civil matters arising out of DEA's concerns relating to the distribution and dispensing of controlled substances. We have worked closely with DEA over the past several months to reach this agreement, which concludes the DEA's review of our operations and provides direction going forward.

"As the largest pharmacy chain in the U.S., we are fully committed to doing our part to prevent prescription drug abuse. We also will continue to advocate for solutions that involve all parties - including leaders in the community, physicians, pharmacies, distributors and regulators - to play a role in finding practical solutions that combat the abuse of controlled substances and ensure patient access to critical medications.

"As part of the agreement with DEA and our continuing desire to work with DEA to combat prescription drug abuse, we have identified specific compliance measures - many of which Walgreens has already taken - to enhance our ordering processes and inventory systems, to provide our team members with the tools, training and support they need to ensure the appropriate dispensing of controlled substances and to improve collaboration across the industry."

Under the terms of the agreement, Walgreens will pay $80 million, which the company reserved in previous quarters, including $25 million in its most recent quarter ended May 31, 2013. The company expects the total impact of the agreement and other associated costs to be 4 to 6 cents per share in its third fiscal quarter.

The agreement resolves all pending litigation and requires Walgreens to surrender its DEA registrations at only six of its more than 800 Florida pharmacies until May 2014 and at its Jupiter distribution center until September 2014. Walgreens has already taken steps to ensure that there is no disruption to the supply of medications to our pharmacies.

About Walgreens

As the nation's largest drugstore chain with fiscal 2012 sales of $72 billion, Walgreens (www.walgreens.com) vision is to become America's first choice for health and daily living. Each day, Walgreens provides more than 6 million customers the most convenient, multichannel access to consumer goods and services and trusted, cost-effective pharmacy, health and wellness services and advice in communities across America. Walgreens scope of pharmacy services includes retail, specialty, infusion, medical facility and mail service, along with respiratory services. These services improve health outcomes and lower costs for payers including employers, managed care organizations, health systems, pharmacy benefit managers and the public sector. The company operates 8,086 drugstores in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico. Take Care Health Systems is a Walgreens subsidiary that is the largest and most comprehensive manager of worksite health and wellness centers and in-store convenient care clinics, with more than 700 locations throughout the country.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements:Statements in this release that are not historical are forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.Words such as "expect," "likely," "outlook," "forecast," "would," "could," "should," "can," "will," "project," "intend," "plan," "goal," "target," "continue," "sustain," "synergy," "on track," "believe," "seek," "estimate," "anticipate," "may," "possible," "assume," and variations of such words and similar expressions are intended to identify such forward-looking statements.These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks, assumptions and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, those described in Item 1A (Risk Factors) of our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, each of which is incorporated herein by reference, and in other documents that we file or furnish with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those indicated or anticipated by such forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date they are made. Except to the extent required by law, Walgreens does not undertake, and expressly disclaims, any duty or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement after the date of this report, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions or otherwise.

Walgreens
Michael Polzin, 847-315-2920
http://news.walgreens.com
@WalgreensNews
facebook.com/Walgreens

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