Teva Pharmaceuticals and its affiliates have agreed to pay Florida $27 million to resolve claims of Medicaid fraud, Attorney General, Bill McCollum announced today.
“Medicaid fraud costs the taxpayers of Florida, and my Medicaid Fraud Control Unit will continue aggressively pursuing those who commit this fraud against our state,” said Attorney General McCollum.
The settlement resolves the allegations against the Teva Pharmaceuticals group that engaged in the practice of knowingly setting and reporting inflated prices for medications dispensed by pharmacies and other providers, who were then reimbursed by the Florida Medicaid program. By reporting inflated prices, the drug manufacturers caused the Florida Medicaid Program to overpay millions of dollars in pharmacy reimbursements.
The allegations constitute violations of the Florida False Claims Act and were originally filed by whistle-blower Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, Inc. on behalf of the State of Florida. The Attorney General’s office investigated the claims and subsequently intervened in the lawsuits. The Leon County cases are ongoing against four other pharmaceutical companies, Mylan Laboratories, Actavis, Inc., Watson Pharmaceuticals, Inc., and Sandoz Pharmaceuticals.
