Fifteen drugmakers will pay the state of Illinois $242 million to settle allegations they published inflated average wholesale price information to increase Medicaid reimbursements, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul said Oct. 28.
The settlement brings the total amount of money recovered by the state from the lawsuit to $678 million, closing a case that began in 2005 with more than four dozen drugmakers.
The lawsuit alleges the involved drugmakers took advantage of state Medicaid programs' reliance on average wholesale prices when setting reimbursement levels.
GlaxoSmithKline will pay the largest chunk of the settlement, contributing $54.6 million, followed by Johnson & Johnson, which will pay$49.5 million. Pfizer will contribute $41 million.
The other drugmakers included in the settlement are Abbott, Aventis, Aventis Behring, B. Braun Medical, Forest Laboratories, Janssen Pharmaceutical Products , McNeil-PPC, Ortho Biotech Products, Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical, Novartis, Pharmacia and TAP Pharmaceutical Products.
The drugmakers did not admit liability.