Mass. AG Reaches $2 Million Settlement With Drug Manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals To Resolve Price Reporting Litigation

October 05, 2007 -- BOSTON – Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Office entered into a settlement with Barr Laboratories, Inc. and Duramed Pharmaceuticals, Inc., wholly owned subsidiaries of New Jersey based generic drug manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc regarding litigation pending in the Federal District Court in Boston. In that litigation, the Commonwealth sued thirteen generic drug manufacturers, including Barr and Duramed, for allegedly inflating the prices that they reported to national price reporting services. The settlement resolves the Commonwealth’s claims related to the drugs that Barr and Duramed manufacturedincluding Methotrexate, Naltrexone Hydrochloride, Warfarin Sodium, Apri and Digoxin.

“This is a national and industry-wide problem that the Commonwealth and other states and the federal government continue to address,” Attorney General Martha Coakley said. “Our office will continue to work with the Medicaid program, other law enforcement agencies and the federal government to implement a pharmaceutical reimbursement program that is fair to all parties and ensures continued coverage for our citizens.”

The Commonwealth’s Medicaid program, like all other state Medicaid programs and many private medical plans, uses prices reported by national price reporting services to determine the amounts they will pay for drugs dispensed by pharmacies to their participants. The Commonwealth alleged that by reporting the inflated prices, the pharmaceutical companies sued in the litigation caused the Massachusetts Medicaid program to pay inflated amounts for Medicaid recipients. The litigation against the remaining defendants is ongoing.

In its settlement, Barr Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay the Commonwealth $2,000,000. In agreeing to the settlement, Barr Pharmaceuticals denied any wrongdoing and asserted that their price reporting was consistent with all legal standards.

This matter was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Peter A. Mullin, Richard C. Heidlage, Robert P. Patten, Colleen A. McCarthy, Robert C. Molvar, Anthony Bova and Jay Pina with assistance from investigators Anthony Megathlin, John Walsh and Steve Devlin, all of Attorney General Martha Coakley’s Medicaid Fraud Division.

Source: Massachusetts Attorney General