Alabama Wins $215m Landmark Medicaid Case Against Drug Company

[Celebration]

http://www.wsfa.com/Global/story.asp?S=7908743&nav=menu33_3_3_16

A Montgomery County jury hit a big drug maker with a huge two hundred fifteen million dollar verdict Thursday after the state said the company carried out a fraudulent pricing scheme to prey on the poor, the sick and the elderly.

It's the first of its kind in the country to go to trial, and dozens more cases are in line for trial here.

The trial went on for two weeks, but at the center of the case, one stunning claim; that drug maker AstraZenica listed one price on state Medicaid purchase lists, which Alabama was obligated to pay, then charged wholesalers far, far below list price.

The lawyers said that created huge profits, some of them 800 times the cost of the drugs.

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The verdict could have huge implications, because Alabama plans to sue another 76 drug companies for the same fraud.

Astra Zeneca plans to appeal the verdict.