Brown Announces $23 Million Drug Price Settlement With Bristol Myers-Squibb

Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Contact: (916) 210-6000, agpressoffice@doj.ca.gov

LOS ANGELES--Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced that California will receive $23 million of a $515 million nationwide settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb. The settlement resolves allegations that the company reported “grossly inflated” drug wholesale prices to California’s Medicaid program in an effort to maintain its market share of prescription drugs.

“The Medi-Cal system requires companies to accurately report drug prices to the state,” Attorney General Brown said. “Bristol Myers-Squibb grossly inflated its reported drug prices and then used the artificially high price to increase its market share. The Bureau of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse will continue to investigate and prosecute any alleged fraudulent conduct by any health care provider whose services or products are paid for by Medi-Cal,” Brown added.

The settlement agreement follows a drug-price investigation into Bristol Myers-Squibb and former subsidiary Apothecon that was launched in 2001 by California, the federal government, and other state attorneys general. The investigation was triggered by various whistle blower lawsuits filed around the United States. During the inquiry, Bristol Myers-Squibb voluntarily disclosed potential violations of state and federal anti-kick back law.

California found evidence of violations including: reporting artificially high average wholesale prices for prescription drugs to shut out competitors, organizing kickback schemes to lure pharmacies and wholesalers, illegally marketing an adult anti-psychotic drug as a treatment for children, and hiding the lowest sale price for Serzone to underpay Medicaid. Details of those allegations include:

* Reporting inflated average wholesale prices for physician-administered drugs:

The average wholesale prices for drugs were substantially higher than the prices for which the company sold these products, a scheme designed to maintain market share in the face of competing generic alternative drugs. The company’s sales force would “market the spread” or sell drugs based on the profit margin between the reported average price, which is the basis for Medicare and Medicaid reimbursement, and the actual costs for the same drugs, which were dramatically less than the reported price.

Medi-Cal, which is California’s Medicaid program, reimburses pharmacies and doctors based on prices reported by pharmaceutical manufacturers whose drugs are dispensed to beneficiaries. Because government health insurance programs such as Medi-Cal rely on reported prices to set reimbursement amounts, the company’s conduct caused the state to overpay for drugs.

* Engaging in an array of kickback activities to enhance their market share:

The investigation revealed that Apothecon paid millions of dollars to lure pharmacies and wholesalers to switch from competitors’ generic drugs to the company’s generic products. The payments to doctors included physician consulting programs consisting of trips to luxury resorts, meals at expensive restaurants, and tickets to sports events where doctors allegedly listened to pharmaceutical sales pitches. The kickback schemes targeted payments to doctors to keep generic competitors out of the market.

* Illegally marketing its atypical antipsychotic drug Abilify:

The Food and Drug Administration approved Abilify in November 2002 for the treatment of adult schizophrenia and later for adult bi-polar disorder. The investigation revealed that the company promoted the drug for treatment of children and dementia-related psychosis when neither use was approved by the FDA. This off-label promotion scheme increased the company’s sales between 2002 and 2005.

* Concealing its best price to the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Management:

Bristol Myers-Squibb allegedly concealed its best price from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Management in a private-labeling scheme for its drug Serzone. The federal government uses best price to determine the amount of Medicaid rebates owed to states. The company allegedly affixed Kaiser labels to its Serzone and shipped the drugs at a lower price than was sold to any other customer. The company did not include this low price in its calculations reported to the federal government for Medicaid rebate purposes, thereby underpaying rebates owed to California.

The $23 million settlement with Bristol-Myers Squibb will pay approximately $12 million in full restitution to Medi-Cal and $11 million for the state’s False Claims Fund. The state’s lawsuit was filed in San Diego Superior Court in 2003 and then removed to the federal central district court in Los Angeles. Later it was consolidated with a number of other state lawsuits in federal court in Boston.

To date, California has reached settlements worth $9.7 million with five other companies, and their corporate parents, resolving similar allegations. Claims against fifteen companies are still pending.

For copies of the state's settlement and original lawsuit please contact the Attorney General's Press Office at 916-324-5500.

# # #