Pharmaceutical settlement

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced Arkansas, other states and the federal government have reached an agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (BIPI) to settle allegations that the company paid kickbacks and improperly marketed four of its drugs.

BIPI, a Connecticut-based company, will pay the states and federal government a total of $95 million in the settlement related to the drugs Atrovent, Combivent, Micardis and Aggrenox. Of that, Arkansas’s Medicaid program will receive $489,399.20.

“This company’s illegal marketing practices led to increased, unnecessary costs to Arkansas taxpayers,” McDaniel said. “I am pleased that the state’s Medicaid program will receive additional money as a result of this joint state and federal settlement. Our office will continue to work to prevent Medicaid fraud in Arkansas.”

The settlement resolves allegations that BIPI unlawfully marketed the four drugs for a variety of non-FDA approved illnesses, thereby causing false claims to be submitted to Medicaid. Additionally, the settlement resolves allegations that the company paid kickbacks to healthcare professionals as an inducement to prescribe.