http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog Tue, 11 Oct 2011 21:55:16 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/reports/court-finds-against-drug-companies-in-medicaid-overcharge-pricing-scheme/ http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/reports/court-finds-against-drug-companies-in-medicaid-overcharge-pricing-scheme/#comments Fri, 31 Oct 2008 19:01:04 +0000 Paul Murray, CNC, L.Ac. http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/?p=547 For the second time this year, the State of Alabama has won a significant victory in court against powerful drug companies. This time, the litigation involved

GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp and with the court awarding a total of $114,247,233 to the state. Earlier this year, the state was awarded a $215 million ver­dict against the AstraZeneca Pharmaceutical Company.

State Attorney General Troy King initiated legislation against the drug giants for mas­sive overcharges to the Alabama Medicaid Agency. According to the state, both compa­nies overcharged Medicaid for drugs from 1991 to 2005. The companies had allegedly charged the state more for medications than they did other customers. This is against the law as Medicaid is to be charged the drug maker’s lowest offered prices. The state initially sought $800 million in settlement.

“The people of Alabama can be reassured that grave injustices are being made right
and that public funds taken by corporate manipulation schemes are being recovered,” said
the attorney general. He went on to say that the state will, “hold accountable anyone, no
matter how powerful and wealthy, who would take advantage our state and our citizens.”

These cases being tried in Alabama for overcharges to the Alabama Medicaid Agency have become known as “average wholesale pricing” (AWP) cases. The state contends that the pharmaceutical companies misreported and then inflated the prices they charged for prescription drugs resulting in a scheme to overcharge Medicaid. Earlier this year the attorney general filed lawsuits against 79 companies for their participation in this AWP scheme.

The first court award from these lawsuits went against AstraZeneca for a total of $215 million. A judge later reduced the award to a still substantial amount of $160 million. In this current suit, GlaxoSmithKline is to pay $80,989,539 with Novartis to pay $33,257,694.

The attorney general seemed pleased with the court’s decision. “The State of Alabama continues to achieve victories in the important work of recovering what has been stolen from the Alabama Medicaid Agency and those who depend upon that agency for their needed medicines,” he said.

Source: The State of Alabama Office of the Attorney General. A.G. Announces Second Victory in Drug Pricing Lawsuit?’ Press Release. July 2008.
http://www.ago.state.al.usinews_template.cfm?Item=1192

]]> http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/reports/court-finds-against-drug-companies-in-medicaid-overcharge-pricing-scheme/feed/ 0 http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/reports/diabetes-inhaler-testers-get-cancer-fda-warning-issued/ http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/reports/diabetes-inhaler-testers-get-cancer-fda-warning-issued/#comments Sat, 27 Sep 2008 19:40:37 +0000 Rick Woodward, L.Ac. http://www.wholehealthcenters.com/blog/?p=460 Persons who use an Exubera® inhaler to control high blood sugar, or who are thinking of using this product, should definitely consider an alternative form of treatment. This is especially important now that six cases of lung cancer have been reported in persons who participated in clinical trials of the product.

Exubera is a drug made by the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Inc. When it came on the market approximately two years ago, it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and hailed as the first new delivery system in some 80 years: “Until today, patients with diabetes who need insulin to manage their disease had only one way to treat their condition,” said Dr. Steven Galson, Director, Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, FDA, in January 2006 when Exubera was approved. It is our hope that the availability of inhaled insulin will offer patients more options to bet­ter control their blood sugar.”

Now, however, in light of six cases of diagnosed lung malignancies among participants in the clini­cal trials, the FDA has issued a safety alert on the product. Pfizer, in turn, has sent appropriate letters of warning to healthcare providers and to persons known to be using the product. In addition to the six malignancies reported on test victims, one more case of cancer has been reported by a user follow­ing the release of Exubera.

The drug had been approved to treat the two major types of diabetes – Type 1 and Type 2. Persons with Type 1 produce virtually no insulin, and Type 2 victims do not produce enough insulin to control their blood sugar levels. Exubera is delivered in a powdered form using a special type of inhaler.

Some 2,500 persons were involved in the clinical testing of Exubera. While seven cases of cancer have developed and a warning about the product issued, the FDA backpedaled on banning the drug. There are too few cases of cancer to determine whether the emergence of these events is related to Exubera, the warning letter said. It also pointed out that all of the cancer victims had been smokers earlier in their life.

On the other hand, the FDA considers it wise for healthcare providers to prescribe a different product than Exubera. “Because of the limited availability of Exubera, healthcare professionals should seek alternative treatment options to maintain patients’ glycemic control. (Glycemic control refers to maintaining proper blood sugar levels following ingestion of carbohydrates.)

As previously stated, safety alert letters have been sent by Pfizer, Inc. to healthcare providers and to users. While these letters maintain that Exubera remains a safe and approved treatment, healthcare providers and Exubera users would be wise to follow the FDA warning and “seek alternative options.”

Source: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration. 2008 Safety Alerts. “Exubera Inhalation Powder?’ April 2008
http://www.fda.gov/medwAtch/safety/2008/safety08.htm#exubera and “FDA Approves First Ever Inhaled Insulin Combination Product for Treatment of Diabetes.” January 2006. http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2006/NEW01304.html

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