Judge rules against three pharmas in AWP case
Pharma Compliance Alert, June 27, 2007
A judge last week ruled against AstraZeneca, Schering-Plough, and Bristol-Myers Squibb in an average wholesale price (AWP) case brought by a group of plaintiffs. According to to the ruling, the companies engaged in unfair and deceptive trade practices that violate Massachusetts laws.
The court found that by reporting inflated AWPs, the companies "unsucrupulously took advantage" of the reimbursement system "by establishing secret mega-spreads between the fictitious reimbusement price they reported and the actual acquisition costs of doctors and pharmacies." According to a report from the plaintiffs' attorneys, the most severe mark up was by Bristol-Myers Squibb, with an 1131% mark up on the drug Vespid.
The ruling affects patients who paid for presctiptions from December 1997 to 2003 and have beein reimbursed by Medicare, private insurers, and patients making coinsurance payments based on AWP.
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