They reached a settlement over pumped up drug prices.

The class action lawsuit alleged that two companies, a drug wholesaler (McKesson Corporation) and a publisher of drug data (First Databank) wrongfully inflated the mark-up factor used by the wholesaler to determine the Average Wholesale Price (“AWP”) for hundreds of brand-name drugs. The AWP is the benchmark used by insurers and government programs to reimburse pharmacies. The lawsuit alleged that the defendants artificially inflated the AWP while keeping the actual cost of the drug low so that pharmacies, many of whom were customers of McKesson, received a larger return. It is estimated that this practice cost consumers, insurers, and Medicaid programs over $7 billion in excess costs between 2001 and 2008. You can read more on this case in an article in the Wall Street Journal, or in our earlier blogs (Two landmark settlements to roll back drug prices!; Unions in PAL Coalition win $350 Million settlement in McKesson class action).

McKesson agreed to pay $350 million to settle the lawsuit against it. Insurers and eligible consumers who purchased any of the 386 prescription drugs during the class period may be eligible to receive a portion of the settlement. The drugs included in the settlement include some of the top selling drugs in the United States, such as Adderall, Advair, Allegra, Ambien, Celebrex, Clarinex, Claritin, Coumadin, Levaquin, Lipitor, Nasonex, Nexium Ortho Tri-Cyclen, Plavix, Prevacid, Prilosec, Protonix, Prozac, Risperdal, Seroquel, Topamax, Valium, Valtrex, Zantac, Zoloft, Zyprexa, and many more. A full list of the drugs involved in the settlement is available on our website here or at the settlement website here.

Shame, Shame, Shame!

Posted via email from Jason’s posterous