Missouri AG Presents Check For $2.4 Million To Missouri Medicaid Program As Part Of Settlement With Purdue Pharma

September 13, 2007 -- Jefferson City, Mo. — Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon today presented the Missouri Medicaid program with a check in the amount of $2,470,530. The money is the state’s portion of $160 million that prescription drug manufacturer Purdue Pharma agreed to pay to the federal government and state Medicaid programs to compensate them for damages caused by the misbranding of the pain medication OxyContin. The settlement, announced by Nixon on Aug. 14, resolves allegations that Purdue Pharma improperly marketed OxyContin to health care providers using false claims.

Overall, Purdue Pharma paid $5,867,060 to the Missouri Medicaid program, with $3,432,297 going to reimburse the federal government for its share of the state funding.

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Nixon said that from 1995 through 2005, Purdue Pharma sales representatives illegally promoted OxyContin by falsely claiming that the neurotic pain medication was less addictive, less subject to abuse and diversion and less likely to cause tolerance and withdrawal than other pain medications. Such inaccurate communication of information about OxyContin constituted a mislabeling and misbranding of the drug.

The investigation into Purdue Pharma’s practices took four years and involved the Western District of Virginia U.S. Attorney’s Office, in conjunction with other state and federal law enforcement agencies.

The Medicaid Fraud Control Unit of the Attorney General’s Office, established by Nixon in 1994, has authority under state law to investigate and prosecute, both civilly and criminally, allegations of fraud against Missouri’s Medicaid program.

Source: Missouri Attorney General