The parent company of drug maker Roxane Laboratories Inc. has entered into a settlement with the State of Florida. The lawsuit alleged that the drugmaker misled the state into overpaying for drugs for the past 18 years. The company also inflated its prices, which cost Floridians an estimated $4.4. million. 

Posted on Wednesday, 12.09.09

Ohio company settles Florida Medicaid fraud charges

By Nirvi Shah

 Florida will receive $8.5 million from a settlement with Roxane Laboratories, a Columbus, Ohio, pharmaceutical company, to partially resolve a Leon County Medicaid fraud lawsuit, the state attorney general said Wednesday.

The case continues against two other drug makers, Dey and Warrick Pharmaceuticals.

The settlement resolves allegations that Roxane set and reported false, inflated prices for medicines dispensed by pharmacies and others, which were then reimbursed by the Florida Medicaid program. Medicaid sets reimbursement rates based on prices reported by drug companies.

Roxane's actions led Florida's Medicaid program to overpay millions in pharmacy reimbursements.

The allegations were first reported by whistle-blower Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys. The attorney general is in the midst of litigating against six other drug companies for price-reporting fraud.

Of the settlement money, about $4.4 million will go to the Agency for Health Care Administration, which administers the Medicaid program. More than $1.69 million will be put into the state's general accounts, and about $188,000 will be deposited into the legal affairs revolving trust fund, which rewards people who report and provide information about Medicaid fraud.

Tipsters can call the attorney general's fraud hot line at 866-966-7226 or 850-414-3990.

SOURCE The Miami Herald

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