Connecticut Attorney General's Office
Press Release
Attorney General, Chief State's Attorney, DSS Announce State To Receive Almost $775,000 From Four Drug Companies For Alleged Medicaid Fraud
October 21, 2009
The companies allegedly failed to pay required rebates for certain drugs provided Medicaid recipients.
Blumenthal and Kane reached the settlement in cooperation with Department of Social Services (DSS) Commissioner Michael P. Starkowski.
Mylan Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and its related company UDL Laboratories, Inc. will pay Connecticut $745,000, with an additional $9,000 from Ortho McNeil and $21,000 from AstraZeneca. The payments are part of a $124 million settlement between the drug companies and numerous states and the federal government.
Blumenthal said, "The companies defrauded taxpayers, failing to pay promised rebates for drugs provided state healthcare programs. They brazenly and blatantly violated discount agreements, costing the state hundreds of thousands of dollars.
"We have exposed and halted intolerable fraud, forcing companies to provide rebates they promised. This settlement sends a powerful message: We will vigilantly and vigorously police state healthcare programs to assure drug companies fulfill their contractual and financial obligations to taxpayers," Blumenthal said.
Kane said, "I thank the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit in the Office of the Chief State's Attorney, the Office of the Attorney General and the Department of Social Services for their outstanding work to combat fraud and abuse and to recover taxpayer dollars."
Starkowski said, "Once again, a pharmaceutical settlement is showing that states must always be vigilant in the oversight of public health care expenditures. The need for this oversight is more critical than ever as Medicaid costs continue to increase. DSS anti-fraud staff worked with the Attorney General's Office and Chief State's Attorney's Office to provide information that helped determine Connecticut's share of this settlement."
MPI allegedly shortchanged the state on rebates for: (nifedipine extended release tablets, flecainide acetate, selegiline HCL, Orphenadrine Citrate Aspirin and Caffeine tablets, Triamterene/Hydrochlorothiazide, Propoxyphene HCL, Propoxyphene HCL/Aspirin/Caffeine, Prophyxphene Napsylate/Acetaminophen, Ibuprofen tablets, Bumetanide, Cepalexin, and Cefactor).
UDL allegedly failed to provide full refunds for: nifedipine extended release tablets, selegiline HCL, Triamterene & HCTZ, Propox Naps & APAP, Flecainide Acetate, Trihexyphenidyl, Ranitidine HCL syrup, Sucralfate Suspension, Selegiline HCL, and Bumetanide.
AstraZeneca's payment resolved allegedly underpaid rebates for Albuterol, while Ortho McNeil's payment settles charges that it failed to pay full rebates for Dermatop.