Florida Atty General Subpoenas 6 Generic Drug Makers
July 20, 2004 12:07 p.m.
Hollister H. Hovey Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
NEW YORK -- Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist issued civil subpoenas to six generic drug makers Tuesday regarding their wholesale pricing practices, according to the attorney general's Web site.
Crist believes that the companies involved may have overcharged the federal and state-run Medicaid program for the poor by more than $100 million over the last decade.
The subpoenas request that Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s (TEVA) U.S. unit Teva USA; Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. (WPI); Mylan Laboratories Inc. (MYL); Novartis AG's (NVS) generic unit Sandoz Inc. which was formerly known as Geneva Pharmaceuticals; Ivax Corp. (IVX); and Alpharma Inc. (ALO) subsidiary PurePac Pharmaceutical Co. all hand over documents related to their pricing from 1994 to the present. The companies have until Aug. 16 to submit the paperwork.
Florida's Medicaid program reimburses pharmaceutical providers at wholesale prices reported by manufacturers. The subpoenas will help determine whether the reported wholesale prices were inflated beyond the actual wholesale price, resulting in overpayments.
Alpharma spokeswoman Kathleen Makrakis confirmed that the company received the subpoena, but declined to comment further. None of the spokespeople from the other companies that Florida Attorney General Crist has subpoenaed were immediately available to comment.
A number of other states and U.S. Attorneys - namely those in Boston and Philadelphia - have come down hard on drug makers who have tried to bilk the government.
As first reported by the New York Times Friday, Schering-Plough Corp. (SGP) is expected to pay the U.S. government $350 million in fines to settle charges it defrauded Medicaid, according to people familiar with the matter.
The particulars of the settlement, including the amount of the fine, are still being negotiated with the U.S. attorney in Philadelphia and ultimately would have to be approved by a federal judge. Under the agreement, the company is expected to plead guilty to a criminal charge, the New York Times reported.
-Hollister H. Hovey, Dow Jones Newswires, 201-938-5287; hollister.hovey@dowjones.com |
