Pharmaceutical company pays $289K to MO

Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster on Feb. 27 announced that the Missouri Medicaid program would receive $289,000 through a settlement with a St. Louis-based pharmaceutical company.

KV Pharmaceutical Co., parent company of the now-defunct Ethex Corp., agreed to pay $17 million to the federal government and participating states to compensate Medicaid and federal health care programs for improper conduct by Ethex, according to a news release from the attorney general's office.

The settlement follows allegations that Ethex misrepresented the regulatory status of two products, Nitroglycerin Extended Release Capsules and Hyoscyamine Sulfate Extended Release Capsules, and failed to advise the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services that the unapproved drugs didn't qualify for coverage under federal health care programs.

The allegations claimed Ethex caused false claims related to the two drugs to be submitted and paid for by the health care programs. However, there has been no allegation of risk or harm to patients using the drugs, and neither are currently on the market, the release said.

“Pharmaceutical companies must be held accountable for their actions,” Koster said in the release. “This attorney general’s office will continue to place a priority on fighting Medicaid fraud - returning these scarce health care dollars to the state."[[In-content Ad]]