Attorney General Bill McCollum announced today that

Florida will receive $8.5 million from a settlement with Roxane

Laboratories, Inc., and its corporate affiliates. The settlement, which

partially resolves a Leon County Medicaid fraud lawsuit, was negotiated by

the Attorney General’s Complex Civil Enforcement Bureau. The Leon County

case is ongoing against two other pharmaceutical companies, Dey, Inc. and

Warrick Pharmaceuticals.

Boehringer Ingelheim Roxane, Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals,

Inc., Boehringer Ingelheim Corporation and Ben Venue Laboratories, Inc.

are included in the settlement.

The $8.5 million dollar settlement resolves allegations that Roxane set

and reported false and inflated prices for medications dispensed by

pharmacies and other providers which were then reimbursed by the Florida

Medicaid program. The Medicaid program sets the reimbursement rates it

pays to Medicaid providers based on the prices reported by drug

manufacturers. By reporting inflated prices, the drug manufacturers caused

the Florida Medicaid Program to overpay millions of dollars in pharmacy

reimbursements.

The allegations constituted violations of the Florida False Claims Act and

were originally filed by whistleblower 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 lawsuit. The

Agency for Health Care Administration, which is responsible for

administering the Medicaid Program, will receive over $4.4 million for the

losses sustained by the Medicaid Program. Additionally, more than $1.69

million will be deposited in the State of Florida’s General Revenue Fund,

and over $188,000 will be deposited to the Legal Affairs Revolving Trust

Fund to fund rewards for persons who report and provide information

relating to Medicaid fraud.

The Attorney General’s Complex Civil Enforcement Bureau, part of the

Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, investigates and litigates allegations and

claims of Medicaid civil fraud. It is actively litigating against six

additional drug manufacturers for price reporting fraud.

Source: The office of Attorney General Bill McCollum