AstraZeneca, Bristol-Myers Squibb face additional trials for fraudulent pricing
Pharma Compliance Alert, October 8, 2008
U.S. District Judge Patti Saris certified two nationwide classes and ruled each class would have a trial as part of a multidistrict pricing fraud case against AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb.
The two companies are accused of publishing falsely inflated average wholesale drug prices (AWP). Medicare and private insurance companies use AWP to determine the amount they reimburse for drugs. The inflated AWP caused consumers and insurance companies to pay too much for a variety of AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb products.
In her ruling, Saris explained her decision to certify national classes because of the court’s experience with the “Kafka-esque and opaque drug pricing issues” involved in the case.
The first class consists of third-party payers who made reimbursements for Medicare Part B covered drugs based on average wholesale prices. The second class includes consumer or third-party payers who paid for certain physician-administered drugs.
In March, 11 other pharmaceutical companies agreed to pay $125 million to settle allegations they intentionally inflated reports of the average wholesale prices on certain prescription drugs. In November 2007, Saris ordered AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb to pay the Commonwealth of Massachusetts a combined $13.6 million for allegedly inflating the average wholesale price of their medications.
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