Sanofi-Aventis settles AWP suit for $190 million

Sanofi-Aventis has reached a settlement with the Department of Justice to resolve lawsuits regarding the Medicaid pricing of Anzemet (dolasetron). Under the terms of the agreement, the drugmaker will pay $179 million to the federal government and another $10 million to a fund for states and the District of Columbia to resolve Medicaid overpayment claims. The suit alleged that from 1997 through 2004 Sanofi-Aventis inflated the AWPs that it reported and were used by Medicaid to set reimbursement rates and the actual prices for the drugs charged to its customers. The suit was originally filed by Florida-based Ven-A-Care, a home infusion company, which will receive $32 million as its share of the settlement for uncovering the fraud. Earlier this year, AstraZeneca and Bristol-Myers Squibb were found guilty of inflating AWP in a separate case.

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