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AstraZeneca, BMS Appeal AWP Ruling

December 19, 2007

AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) are appealing a federal judge’s order that they pay additional damages in a lawsuit over average wholesale drug prices.

In November, U.S. District Judge Patti Saris ordered AstraZeneca to pay $12.9 million and BMS to pay $695,594 for inflating average wholesale prices (AWPs) for their products.

The ruling followed an earlier decision in June, when Saris found that several companies “unscrupulously took advantage” of the AWP reimbursement system by creating spreads between the reported and actual costs.

In June, Saris ordered AstraZeneca to pay one plaintiff group $4.5 million in damages and BMS to pay damages of $183,484 to one group. She said she needed to collect more information to determine the amount of damages for other plaintiff groups.

AstraZeneca filed its notice of appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit Dec. 10, following through on its promise that it would appeal. BMS filed a notice to appeal the ruling Dec. 5.

BMS paid $13 million to settle an AWP lawsuit earlier this year although it admitted no wrongdoing. The case dealt only with Part B copayments for BMS drugs.