Pharma giant Merck & Co. Inc. (NYSE: MRK) will pay $24 million to the state of Massachusetts, according to a news release from the state Attorney General’s Office. The payment is part of a $47 million Medicaid fraud settlement involving 13 drugmakers.
In a statement, Merck confirmed the details of its share of the settlement, but denied wrongdoing, saying the firm settled to eliminate “uncertainty of ongoing litigation.”
According to Attorney General Martha Coakley, Merck and a generic drugmaking subsidiary agreed to pay the $24 million following a jury verdict in Federal District court in Boston last year.
The lawsuit complained that Merck and Warrick reported inflated prices for an asthma drug, albuterol, to industry price reporting services such as First Data Bank , used by state Medicaid programs to determine reimbursement rates for pharmacies. Twelve other generic drugmakers were accused of similar fraud, and settled before trial, the AG said, agreeing to pay the state $23.4 million in aggregate.
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Merck to pay Mass. $24M in Medicaid fraud settlement - Boston Business Journal
via bizjournals.com
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