Novartis Pays $150M To Settle Pricing Fraud
November 18th, 2011 // 2:07 pm @ jmpickett
In the latest instance of pharmaceutical fraud, the Sandoz unit of Novartis earlier this week agreed to pay $150 million to settle lawsuits filed by the states of Florida and California, as well as a whistleblower, to settle charges that it deliberately misreported pricing information in order to hike reimbursements from Medicaid.
This is only the latest settlement stemming from accusations that a drugmaker rigged the average wholesale price charged federal healthcare systems. Numerous lawsuits and charges have been brought against nearly every large drugmaker by the feds and many states in recent years. The US Department of Justice has recovered some $2 billion from drugmakers over pricing fraud.
To settle, Sandoz is paying the federal government $86.5 million, while Florida will receive $15.2 million and $40 million will go to California. The remaining $8.3 million will go to Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, which filed the whistleblower lawsuit and whose allegations have led to settlements with many other drugmakers
