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www.fdanews.com/articles/90618-bms-offers-to-pay-nearly-500-million-to-settle-federal-investigation

BMS OFFERS TO PAY NEARLY $500 MILLION TO SETTLE FEDERAL INVESTIGATION

December 27, 2006

Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) will pay $499 million to the government and sign a corporate integrity agreement to resolve "several investigations involving the company's drug pricing and sales and marketing activities," the company said.

BMS said it reached the agreement in principle with the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts. The DOJ must give final approval of the agreement, which would enable the company to avoid criminal charges. The corporate integrity agreement would be between BMS and the HHS Office of Inspector General.

In its third quarter financial statement, the company said it had received subpoenas and other document requests from various government agencies for records relating to its pricing, sales marketing practices and best price reporting. These requests are associated with ongoing investigations by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts and the DOJ's Civil Division.

In the same financial statement, the company said that it was a defendant in private class action lawsuits, as well as federal and state lawsuits brought by the attorneys general of several states, "numerous" New York counties and the city of New York. These suits accuse the company of inflating the average wholesale prices (AWPs) of its products, thereby injuring government programs, entities and people who reimbursed prescription drugs costs based on AWPs. Other pharmaceutical companies were also named as defendants in these lawsuits.

(http://www.fdanews.com/did/5_249/)