The Drug Enforcement Administration may revoke TruePill's ability to fill controlled substances over allegations that it wrongly filled thousands of prescriptions for stimulants used to treat attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder.
The DEA sent the digital pharmacy an Order to Show Cause Dec. 15, which initiates formal administrative proceedings to revoke or suspend an organization's DEA registration.
The administration claims TruePill filled more than 72,000 controlled substance prescriptions between September 2020 and September 2022, 60 percent of which were for stimulants. Some of these prescriptions allegedly exceeded 90-day supply limits or were written by prescribers without proper state licensing, the DEA found.
"DEA will relentlessly pursue companies and pharmacies that seek to profit from unlawfully dispensing powerful and addictive controlled substances at the expense of the safety and health of the American people," DEA Administrator Anne Milgram said in a Dec. 15 news release.
Truepill was the preferred pharmacy for Cerebral, a telehealth startup under federal investigation for its prescribing practices. The digital pharmacy stopped dispensing Schedule 2 controlled substances via telehealth in April and said it is cooperating with the DEA, according to The Wall Street Journal.
"We are confident we will be able to demonstrate the absence of wrongdoing," TruePill CEO Sid Viswanathan told the publication. "Patient safety is our No. 1 concern."