Washington, DC - Attorney General Robert J. Spagnoletti is pleased to announce that a portion of the settlement sum paid by CVS Corporation (CVS) will benefit the DC Pharmaceutical Resource Center at Catholic Charities.

As part of the charitable component of the District of Columbia's antitrust settlement with CVS reached on April 21, 2005, AG Spagnoletti has allocated $350,000 for the DC Pharmaceutical Resource Center's (DC-PRC) Interim Emergency Medication Project. The case was brought against CVS as a result of the company's purchase and closing in 2002 of a competing pharmacy in the District's Palisades neighborhood.

Attorney General Spagnoletti says he chose the DC-PRC based in part on the recommendation received from the District of Columbia's Office on Aging, and believes the money will help address a critical need for a large segment of the District's population. "The $350,000 will help to defray the cost of prescription drug medications for elderly residents who are struggling to pay for medications that they need - medications which are important for not only quality of life, but are necessary to sustain life."

DC-PRC provides chronically ill, uninsured residents in the District access to free medication from pharmaceutical manufacturers' patient assistant program. DC residents with income below 300% above the Federal Poverty Level without prescription insurance coverage and without any other resources will be qualified to participate. Each patient will be allowed a maximum of $200 annually in assistance from this project. It can take six to eight weeks for patients to receive their initial medications.