NAPA, Calif., March 29 /PRNewswire/ -- Responding to today’s announcement from the State of Nevada Office of the Attorney General about the settlement between the State and Dey, L.P., John Kling, Senior Vice President of Legal Affairs at DEY, stated, “We are pleased that we could reach this settlement with the Nevada Attorney General as a way to resolve all the claims in the pricing litigation brought by the State. The full cash payment to the State of Nevada is $670,000, out of which the State will pay the Federal government’s share of the settlement and outside legal fees.”
DEY has consistently participated legally and ethically within National and various State reimbursement systems. Kling continued, “When virtually an entire industry is sued -- as has been the case with the pricing lawsuits similar to this one in Nevada that have been filed around the country by dozens of attorneys general -- it indicates that the real issue is not the industry’s conduct, but rather the government’s own reimbursement system. The claims against DEY in Nevada and elsewhere derive from a government reimbursement model that relied on published Average Wholesale Prices (AWP). For more than three decades, the Federal and State governments have known about the AWP-based reimbursement model, understood its limitations, and accepted its use as a way to gain the voluntary participation of pharmacists and other healthcare providers in the public healthcare entitlement program Medicaid. The ‘spread’ between dispensers’ acquisition costs and Medicaid reimbursements provided the mechanism whereby pharmacists and other healthcare professionals could recapture their actual dispensing costs.
“The problems with the AWP-based reimbursement model are a primary reason why Congress and the Administration reformed the pricing system under the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. Many in the pharmaceutical industry, including DEY, supported those reforms.”
Kling also noted, “Reaching an agreement with the State of Nevada is a pragmatic solution to avoid the costs of continuing litigation and the vagaries inherent in it. Now that we have reached this relatively modest settlement we can put this litigation behind us and move forward with what we do best -- manufacturing and marketing high-quality pharmaceuticals for the people of Nevada and the rest of the country.”
As part of the settlement, the State of Nevada acknowledges that the settlement does not constitute either an admission of, or evidence of, fault, liability, or unlawful conduct by DEY or its affiliates. DEY has in place a major compliance program to ensure that its sales representatives act in accordance with the 2003 OIG Compliance Program Guidance for Pharmaceutical Manufacturing.
About Dey, L.P.
Dey, L.P. is a specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the development, manufacturing and marketing of prescription drug products for the treatment of respiratory diseases and respiratory-related allergies. Since 1978, patients have benefited from DEY’s commitment to innovative and affordable health care solutions. The Web sites for DEY include www.dey.com, www.accuneb.com, www.curosurfusa.com, www.duoneb.com, and www.epipen.com.
Media contacts: Dey, L.P. Media Line 1-800-755-5560 ext. 8363 or Harriet Ullman Feinstein Kean Healthcare 617-761-6776 hullman@fkhealth.com
Dey, L.P.
CONTACT: Dey, L.P. Media Line, +1-800-755-5560 ext. 8363; or HarrietUllman of Feinstein Kean Healthcare, +1-617-761-6776, hullman@fkhealth.com
