Medicaid - GlaxoSmithKline, Novartis Found Guilty of Overcharging Alabama Medicaid Program, Must...

An Alabama state court jury on Tuesday found pharmaceutical companies GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis guilty of defrauding the state Medicaid program by charging artificially high prices for medications and ordered the two companies to pay more than $114 million in restitution, the AP/Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. GSK was ordered to pay the state $80.8 million and Novartis about $33.7 million in compensatory damages. State attorneys claimed the companies charged the Medicaid program one price for drugs while offering discounted prices to private insurers from 1991 to 2005 and asked that the companies pay as much as $800 million in total damages. Lawyers for GSK and Novartis argued the companies followed proper procedures in setting drug prices. Jere Beasley, a lawyer representing the state, said, "I think the jury looked at... [read full story]