AstraZeneca today announced it intends to seek reconsideration or reversal of a verdict in the Montgomery County Circuit Court awarding $40 million in compensatory damages and $175 million in punitive damages for alleged false and misleading reporting of prices for drugs reimbursed by the Alabama State Medicaid Agency in the US. The company was among 73 pharmaceutical manufacturers named in a lawsuit filed in 2005 by the Alabama Attorney General, alleging that misleading and false reported prices had caused Alabama Medicaid to reimburse pharmacists too much money on prescriptions filed for Medicaid patients.
AstraZeneca maintains that this lawsuit is legally and factually unfounded. The case was based on the misleading premise that the Alabama State Medicaid Agency did not understand how drug prices are established and reported. AstraZeneca also believes serious errors occurred during the proceedings and that the verdict should not be upheld.
AstraZeneca believes it has fully complied with the law, government guidelines and contracts that govern Medicaid pricing. AstraZeneca currently provides medicines to Medicaid programmes at the lowest price offered to its best business clients, as federal law requires.
AstraZeneca and the State Medicaid programme share a common goal of helping people access the medicines they need. To help patients who have difficulty affording their medicines, AstraZeneca offers patient assistance programmes side by side with its medicines. In the last two years alone, Alabama patients have received more than $25.5 million in savings through the companyâs prescription savings programmes.
About AstraZeneca
AstraZeneca is a major international healthcare business engaged in research, development, manufacturing and marketing of prescription pharmaceuticals and supplier for healthcare services. AstraZeneca is one of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies with healthcare sales of US $29.55 billion and is a leader in gastrointestinal, cardiovascular, neuroscience, respiratory, oncology and infection product sales. AstraZeneca is listed in the Dow Jones Sustainability Index (Global) as well as the FTSE4Good Index. For further information, visit www.astrazeneca.com.