Guest guest Posted August 11, 2006 Report Posted August 11, 2006 And what happens--gosh, they pay for it. Considering that ONE drug can rape in...er...rake in BILLIONS of dollars a year, this $70 million payment hardly even qualifies as cost of doing business. Meanwhile, GSK has been trying to kill people in Thailand like they did in Ghana by demanding patent coverage so people with AIDS have to pay 4-10 times more for drugs already available. Charming. The corporatocracy we live in. M. **** http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4782213.stm Glaxo pays $70m to end price row The payout settles one case launched by New York in 2003 GlaxoKline has agreed to pay out $70m (£36.9m) to settle numerous civil claims of price-fixing in the US. Several states, health plans and numerous consumers had launched legal action against the group claiming it had inflated the price of some drugs. The drug maker has admitted no wrongdoing, but said it had made the move to " put the matter behind it " . Glaxo, which earned $2.42bn in the second quarter, said it had already set aside the money for the settlement. 'Restitution' The settlement covers claims by the states of New York, California, Nevada, Connecticut, Montana and Arizona, as well as potential claims in 34 other states and the District of Columbia. It also resolves a lawsuit filed in Boston by individuals, health care schemes and insurers. The lawsuits stem from claims that Glaxo used illegal schemes to inflate the price of drugs - including cancer treatments Zofran and Kytril - costing consumers and government health plans hundreds of millions of dollars. The cases centre on the difference between set rates - or average wholesale prices - that insurance companies and government health plans, such as Medicare and Medicaid, use to reimburse physicians and pharmacies for certain drugs and the amounts the drug companies actually charge. However, Glaxo's spokeswoman said that the practice was common in the industry. She added that testimony showed states and health plans chose to use the set price for the drugs although it was " widely known " that this exceeded the price paid by doctors and pharmacies. New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer said the agreement - which settles a case he launched in 2003 - would " provide significant restitution for consumers and the Medicaid program " . Quote
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