COLUMBUS, Ohio (Legal Newsline) - Ohio Attorney General Mike DeWine announced an $18.325 million settlement on Tuesday with McKesson Corporation to resolve allegations of a scheme meant to inflate the price of drugs prescribed for Ohio beneficiaries.
In May, DeWine filed a lawsuit against McKesson, a San Francisco-based pharmaceutical and medical products distribution company. The lawsuit alleged the company engaged in a conspiracy to inflate average wholesale prices of hundreds of brand-name drugs used by beneficiaries of the Ohio Bureau of Workers' Compensation, the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System and the State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio.
The BWC, OPERS and STRS Ohio use the average wholesale prices of drugs to set prescription drug reimbursement rates.
"I am pleased that a settlement has been reached in this case and restitution has been made to two of our public pension systems and the BWC," DeWine said. "When companies mark up prices, it increases costs for our pension systems, workers' compensation system as well as their retirees and beneficiaries."
Under the terms of the settlement, the BWC will receive $2,416,151.25, OPERS will receive $9,840,891.50 and STRS Ohio will receive $6,067,947.25.
Ohio AG settles pricing lawsuit against McKesson Corp. for $18M
