Bristol-Myers Squibb settlement to benefit Ohio Medicaid program

COLUMBUS — Ohio’s Medicaid program will receive $15.6 million of a $403 million settlement won by several states in an agreement in principle with the Bristol-Myers Squibb drug company.

Medicaid is the program that provides medical care to welfare recipients and other poor people.

State Atty. General Marc Dann said the agreement he and his counterparts from across the country reached will resolve allegations that the company participated in various activities that resulted in overpayments by the Medicaid programs.

The specific allegations being resolved include:

UBMS and a former subsidiary company, Apothecon Inc., provided false pricing information to price reporting services that resulted in the Medicaid programs’ paying inflated prices for BMS’s and Apothecon’s pharmaceutical products.

UBMS illegally marketed its atypical antipsychotic drug, Abilify, for pediatric and dementia-related purposes that had not been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

UBMS and Apothecon provided various types of remuneration to physicians and pharmacists to induce them to prescribe and dispense BMS and Apothecon products in violation of federal and state laws.

UBMS violated the requirements of the federal Medicaid drug rebate statute by failing to accurately report the “best price” at which it sold its drug Serzone, resulting in the Medicaid programs’ receiving fewer rebates for the drug than they were entitled to receive.