The Kentucky attorney general's office has recovered another $2.29 million on behalf of the Kentucky Medicaid program following a settlement with Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. and Aventis Behring, LLC, also known as ZLB Behring, Inc.
Both drug companies are now owned by Sanofi-Aventis U.S. LLC. This is the latest in a number of settlements in so-called Average Wholesale Price (AWP) lawsuits filed by the Office of the Attorney General against 47 of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies.
The AWP lawsuits filed by the Attorney General allege that defendant drug companies published false, inflated and deceptive AWPs for their drugs, which did not bear any relationship to the prices actually charged.
Sanofi-Aventis manufactures brand drugs, including the popular drugs Allegra and Nasacort (allergic rhinitis), and Azmacort and Slobid (asthma).
This is one of 17 settlements reached between the attorney general's office and pharmaceutical companies over inflated AWPs. The Attorney General also won three favorable verdicts involving AWP cases against AstraZeneca, Sandoz, and GSK.
AstraZeneca and Sandoz appealed the verdicts against them. Those cases were argued in April and are pending before the Court of Appeals. GSK ultimately settled its case with the Attorney General for $3.75 million.
