Idaho will receive a $106,000 fraud settlement as part of a multi-state legal settlement with a prescription drug company over alleged false and fraudulent claims, Attorney General Lawrence Wasden announced Tuesday. About half that money will repay improper claims to Idaho’s Medicaid program, while the rest will go into the state’s general fund and will likely be spent by the Legislature next year.
The drug maker Alpharma agreed to the settlement over the drug Kadian, which is a morphine-based drug used to treat chronic pain. The federal lawsuit Idaho participated in alleged that between 2000 and 2008, Alpharma encouraged health care providers to prescribe Kadian using false statements about the drug’s safety or effectiveness. The push from Alpharma came in the form of training programs, research grants, and other ventures.
In total, the drug maker will pay $42.5 million to resolve the fraud claims, with $33.6 million going to the federal government, and $8.9 million to the states.
This is the second settlement between Alpharma and the state of Idaho. In May, the attorney general’s office announced a $1.2 million deal with Alpharma and another pharmaceutical company to settle false or inflated prices for drugs used in Idaho’s Medicaid program.
Read more about this settlement at the attorney general’s website.
