Pfizer to pay $784.6
million to resolve Wyeth false claims lawsuit
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[April 28, 2016]
By Suzanne Barlyn
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Pfizer Inc <PFE.N>
has agreed to pay $784.6 million to resolve allegations that Wyeth,
which it acquired in 2009, underpaid drug rebates to Medicaid, the
federal health insurance program, the Justice Department said on
Wednesday.
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The settlement resolves claims by the U.S. and states that Wyeth
knowingly reported false and fraudulent prices on two of its
anti-acid drugs, Protonix Oral and Protonix IV, the Justice
Department said.
Pfizer acquired Wyeth in 2009, about three years after Wyeth had
ended the conduct that led to settlement, the Justice Department
said.
"We are pleased to have finalized the agreement to resolve these
cases, which involve historic conduct that occurred at least 10
years ago, before we acquired Wyeth,” said Doug Lankler, Pfizer
executive vice president and general counsel, in a statement.
"The resolution of these claims reflects our desire to put these
historic cases behind us and to focus on the needs of patients,"
Lankler said.

Wyeth offered hospitals deep discounts on bundles that included both
drugs when made available to staff and patients, the government said
in a statement about its complaint.
Wyeth wanted to induce hospitals to buy and use Protonix Oral, a
drug they would otherwise have little incentive to prescribe because
of other drugs that were already on the market and competitively
priced, the Justice Department said.
But Wyeth hid the bundled discounts from Medicaid, the Justice
Department said.
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The misrepresentations came to light after a whistleblower, Lauren
Kieff, a former hospital sales representative for another drug
company, and William St. John LaCorte, a New Orleans-based doctor,
filed a False Claims Act lawsuit, the Justice Department said. Two
will share a $98 million cut of the settlement, the Justice
Department said.
The settlement requires that Wyeth pay $413,248,820 to the U.S. and
$371,351,180 to state Medicaid programs.
About $93.7 million of the settlement will resolve claims relating
to New York state's Medicaid program, New York Attorney General Eric
Schneiderman said in a statement on Wednesday. The state will
receive $55.6 million of that sum.
(Reporting by Suzanne Barlyn in New York; Additional reporting by
Diane Bartz and Toni Clarke in Washington; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama
and Meredith Mazzilli)
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