Actavis Settles With Texas in Drug-Pricing Scheme

A hefty settlement agreement has been reached between a pharmaceutical manufacturer and the State of Texas.

Actavis Mid-Atlantic will pay Texas $84 million in the agreement, after being charged with defrauding the taxpayers and improperly reporting drug prices to the Texas Medicaid program.

A Travis County jury found that Actavis was falsely reporting the price of their drugs to the state’s Medicaid program, causing Medicaid to overpay pharmacies for prescription products by Actavis. The company appealed the verdict, and Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott’s office worked out a settlement with Actavis rather than delaying reimbursement to the state treasury, according to a press release.

This case originally stemmed from a State whistleblower lawsuit more than 10 years ago by a Florida-based pharmacy.

Currently, the Office of the Attorney General has retrieved almost $450 million due to groups attempting to bilk the taxpayer-funded Medicaid program with drug-pricing schemes.