The companies, which also include Mylan Inc. and units of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. and Novartis AG, unlawfully obtained public funds for health care providers by making false statements about prices for nine drugs, District Judge Patti Saris in Boston ruled yesterday. The judge will hold a separate hearing on damages, which may be tripled under state law.
New York City and the counties claimed the drug companies illegally sought to increase market share by selling medicines to physicians at steep discounts to “Average Wholesale Prices” they published. Medicare and Medicaid used the posted prices to establish reimbursement rates for doctors. By inflating AWPs, the companies artificially boosted the payments, Saris said.
The drug companies “attempted to obtain payment from public funds on behalf of providers by means of a materially false statement or representation,” Saris said in her order. “There is simply no evidence that defendants believed that the prices they reported were even true list prices.”More at Bloomberg
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