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Massachusetts has joined 14 other states and the District of Columbia in a complaint against Wyeth alleging the company charged the government more than private customers.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, alleges the company knowingly failed to give the government the same discounts it provided to private purchasers of its drugs, as required by laws governing the Medicaid program. As a result, Wyeth avoided paying hundreds of millions of dollars in rebates to state Medicaid programs, according to the complaint.
The complaint pertains to Wyeth products Protonix Oral and Protonix IV, both proton pump inhibitors used to suppress stomach acid, sold between 2000 and 2006. During this time, Wyeth offered discounts of up to 94 percent for the oral product, and 80 percent for the IV product to hospitals who puchased both drugs together. The complaint says that Wyeth offered the deal to benefit from the lucrative “retail outpatient” market, so that a patient would take the oral drug after being discharged from the hospital.
A similar complaint against Wyeth filed in May is pending in the same court.
Under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, companies are required to report to the government the prices they charge customers for brand-name drugs, and pay rebates to the state Medicaid programs based on any discounted prices that are offered to other customers.
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