BOSTON, May 20 (UPI) -- The pharmaceutical company Wyeth defrauded the U.S. government by offering hospitals discounts on products without telling Medicaid officials, lawsuits allege.
The government said in lawsuits filed in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts that Wyeth provided its Protonix Oral and Protonix IV acid-reflux drugs to hospitals nationwide at a discount while not providing that discount to the Medicaid program, The Wall Street Journal reported Wednesday.
The government alleges the company's discounts to thousands of hospitals reached up to 94 percent in some cases.
"By offering massive discounts to hospitals, but then hiding that information from the Medicaid program, we believe Wyeth caused Medicaid programs throughout the country to pay much more for these drugs than they should have," Tony West, an assistant U.S. attorney general in the Civil Division, said in a release.
A spokesman for Wyeth has defended the company's pricing policies, insisting the pharmaceutical group will vigorously defended itself from the lawsuits.
The Journal said the legal action against the company over its product pricing is similar to a lawsuit against Merck & Co. that it settled for $250 million.
