Idaho Attorney General Lawrence Wasden reached a settlement with two prescription drug manufacturers for $1.2 million stemming from the price paid by Medicaid.  The majority of that money will go to the federal government, which pays for most of Idaho's Medicaid program.  Approximately 30 percent of the settlement money will go into the state general fund.

“Where published prices are false or misleading, the taxpayers are significantly harmed by excessive Medicaid reimbursements,” Attorney General Lawrence Wasden said in a news release Thursday.  “This settlement reimburses unfair costs to Idaho taxpayers.”

Wasden said that false or inflated pricing of drugs is prevalent in the pharmaceutical industry.  Including this settlement, the attorney general’s office has recovered $5.1 million from drug manufacturers since 2005 in cases related to average wholesale pricing.

The latest settlement is with drug makers Alpharma and Actavis, which was formerly called Purepac.  As part of the settlement, neither company admits any wrongdoing.  A state district court must still approve the settlement.