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The Alabama Attorney General has aggressively pursued drug companies for allegedly fraudulently manipulating the prices the state paid for drugs under Medicaid. Sixteen companies agreed to settle those claims; three companies took cases to trial — and lost a total of nearly $300 million.
We’ve just received a copy of the opinion, courtesy of one of our readers. Here it is. Press reports say that the Alabama Supreme Court today reversed the judgments entered on those three jury verdicts. Here’s a piece of what’s on the AP wire:
“The Alabama Supreme Court on Friday threw out jury decisions awarding the state more than $274 million from three pharmaceutical companies, ruling they did not defraud the state in pricing Medicaid prescription drugs.
The court overturned jury verdicts against the drug companies AstraZeneca, Novartis and GlaxoSmithKline, accused by the state of fraudulently manipulating prices of drugs for Medicaid recipients.
The court ruled 8-1 that the state did not have to rely on the drug companies’ information in deciding what prices to pay pharmacists for prescription drugs for Medicaid recipients. The justices said state officials could have done their own research and determined the correct price.”