WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) —The U.S. Department of Justice announced April 3 that Sanofi-Pasteur will pay $19,868,194 after allegations of incorrectly calculating drug prices and overcharging the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) between 2002 and 2011 for two drug contracts.
“It is important that pharmaceutical companies provide complete, accurate and current information to the VA about the pricing of their drugs,” said acting assistant attorney general Chad A. Readler of the Justice Department’s Civil Division. “The Department of Justice will ensure that pharmaceutical companies follow the rules for drug pricing when selling to the government.”
Drug manufacturers cannot charge the VA an amount greater than the federal ceiling price (FCP) for covered drugs, as mandated by the Veterans Health Care Act. According to the Justice Department, Sanofi Pasteur admitted to the VA it had overcharged for drugs between 2007 and 2011.
The Office of Inspector General opened a case and determined the error made by Sanofi Pasteur actually resulted in overcharges that went back as far as 2002.
“Overcharging VA depletes funds that are available to care for our veterans,” said Mark Meyers, director of the Healthcare Resources Division of Veterans Affairs' Office of Inspector General. “We will continue to hold companies accountable for errors in drug pricing.”