Obama's Justice Department just joined a lawsuit against a major drug manufacturer, Wyeth, stating that Wyeth ‘cheated' Medicaid. The drug maker defends its ‘pricing plan,' but, drug makers, in general, have been demonized for so long, Weyth's fight will be up hill no matter what.
And the Obama Administration wants a stash of cash:
The government is seeking financial penalties against the company of up to three times the amount lost by Medicaid. And if a settlement is reached, the two whistleblowers who filed the original suits likely would be entitled to some share of the sum.
By law, manufacturers of brand-name drugs are required to offer the same rebates to state Medicaid programs that they provide to other customers.
The government claims the maneuver helped the company avoid paying hundreds of millions of dollars in rebates to Medicaid, a health care program for the poor that is funded by state and federal money. [...]
In court papers, the government accused the drug company of bundling the intravenous version of Protonix with the oral version in sales packages to hospitals, in the hopes of making more money in the lucrative outpatient market.
So, the government says Wyeth was ‘bundling.' Where have we heard that term before? But the point of the matter is, if the government wins the suit, gets the massive settlement, and in the process, damages Wyeth credibility so badly, could Wyeth Pharmaceutical end up another nationalized ‘smash and grab?
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