US DOJ, 16 States Join Suits Against Wyeth On Protonix Pricing
May 18 2009 - 5:35PM
Dow Jones News
The U.S. Department of Justice and 16 states have joined two
whistleblower lawsuits alleging that Wyeth (WYE) avoided paying
hundreds of millions of dollars in rebates due to state Medicaid
programs for the acid reflux drug Protonix.
The lawsuits, filed in federal court in Massachusetts, allege
that Wyeth knowingly failed to give the government the same
discounts it provided to private purchasers of its drugs.
The federal government and the states allege that Wyeth gave
deep discounts on Protonix Oral and Protonix IV to hospitals that
bought both drugs together in a bundling arrangement, but didn't
pass along those lower prices to state Medicaid programs.
"By offering massive discounts to hospitals, but then hiding
that information from the Medicaid program, we believe Wyeth caused
Medicaid programs throughout the country to pay much more for these
drugs than they should have," Assistant Attorney General Tony West
said in a statement.
-By Brent Kendall, Dow Jones Newswires; 202-862-9222;
brent.kendall@dowjones.com