Attorney General's News Release

March 24, 2010

Koster says pharmaceutical company to pay $3.1 million in Medicaid fraud settlement

Jefferson City, Mo.-Attorney General Chris Koster today announced the state has successfully settled litigation against a pharmaceutical company it had accused of Medicaid fraud. The company, Roxane, Inc., will pay the state $3.1 million. The state alleged the company had engaged in a pricing scheme that resulted in the Missouri Medicaid program paying too much for certain prescription drugs.

Koster said Roxane, Inc., now known as Boehringer Ingelheim Roxane, Inc., allegedly reported prices for Medicaid to use as its reimbursement rate that were higher than the amount pharmacies paid for the drug. The state alleged the company would then market to pharmacies the higher reimbursement rate they could receive from Medicaid, versus what they paid for the medicine, to encourage pharmacies to stock Roxane's medicines versus a competitor's. The company has denied any wrongdoing.

Koster has made detecting and prosecuting Medicaid fraud one of his top priorities as Attorney General. In 2009, Koster's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit recovered a record $81.6 million of taxpayers' money, more than doubling the previous record.

"One of my top priorities as Attorney General is to go after companies that cheat Missouri taxpayers through Medicaid fraud," Koster said. "This settlement is a significant amount of money to be returned to taxpayers and should serve as notice to pharmaceutical companies that the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Unit will continue to hold them accountable."

Koster said this is the third settlement with a pharmaceutical company for similar alleged pricing schemes since 2006.