FLORIDA SUES MYLAN, TEVA, WATSON FOR MEDICAID FRAUD
The Florida attorney general has filed a civil complaint against three of the industry's largest generic drugmakers, accusing the firms of defrauding the state's Medicaid program of $25 million. Florida Attorney General Charlie Crist contends the drug manufacturers -- Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Teva Pharmaceutical and Watson Pharmaceuticals -- wrongfully inflated prices in a way that enabled pharmacies to receive excessive reimbursement for filling prescriptions for Medicaid patients who bought generic drugs for depression, schizophrenia, seizures, angina and other serious illnesses. Crist outlined the allegations in a lawsuit filed July 20 in the state's 2nd Judicial Court in Leon County.
The lawsuit was filed on the heels of an investigation by Crist's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, which determined that the generic companies, in an attempt to control market share, enabled Medicaid pharmacies to obtain reimbursements that far exceeded actual drug costs. As part of their alleged scheme, the companies reported inflated "average wholesale prices" (AWPs) to Florida's Medicaid program, which uses manufacturer-reported AWPs to determine reimbursement rates. Crist, who said the pricing abuses date back as far as 1994, alleged that generic firms are uniquely positioned to take advantage of the AWP scheme.
The lawsuit is the third that Crist has brought against drug manufacturers for defrauding the state's Medicaid program. In April, Crist brought similar allegations against Ivax Pharmaceuticals, Purepac Pharmaceutical and Novartis' Sandoz unit. In July 2003, the attorney general filed a Medicaid fraud lawsuit against three other drug firms -- Dey, Warrick Pharmaceuticals and Roxane Laboratories.
To view a copy of the latest lawsuit, go to http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-6EFRYC/$file/AWP_Complaint.pdf (http://myfloridalegal.com/webfiles.nsf/WF/MRAY-6EFRYC/$file/AWP_Complaint.pdf).
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