California uncovers pharma fraud
Pharma giants Abbot and Wyeth have been named defendants to face a potentially ruinous claim by the courts of California for what has been described as a "fraudulent and illegal scheme, defendants and their customers have reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal profits at the expense of the State of California and directly contributed to Med-Cal's soaring cost of providing prescription drugs for the State's needy...."
One of the charges is overpricing drugs by as much as 900 per cent when charging Medi-Cal, the California State medical program for the needy.
Here is Tim Bolen's take on the case.
Big Pharma: America Strikes Back...
Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
October 11th, 2003
Despots, worldwide, hate America and everything it stands for one simple reason - Americans say "No" to totalitarianism. In America, people demand to think for themselves, and make decisions based on their observations.
Big pharma, worldwide, is trying to be planet earth's newest despot. They almost made it. But they didn't count on the North American Health Freedom Movement blocking their efforts to make humanity "drug-dependent" on a grand scale. They didn't realize that Americans would see big pharma's efforts to gouge a huge chunk out of our economy as a "criminal act."
America is waking up in anger. All across the land, consumer advocates, from every walk of American life, are sharpening their swords and stepping into the fray with gusto. In today's story, it's California, and the assault team from the California Attorney General's Office who have identified, and are prosecuting, one of the most horrifying, and despicable, rip-offs in the history of America.
The Attorney General has caught two major pharmaceutical companies, Abbott and Wyeth, hacking, and bleeding, California's health program for society's needy. It is not yet known how many Californian's suffered from their illicit acts - but the Attorney General is looking very hard to find out - and is taking aggressive action against the drug lords.
According to court documents laying on my desk, quote "as a result of their fraudulent and illegal scheme, defendants and their customers have reaped hundreds of millions of dollars in illegal profits at the expense of the State of California and directly contributed to Med-Cal's soaring cost of providing prescription drugs for the State's needy...."
Tim Bolen - Consumer Advocate
See also:Times Online - April 05, 2006
Drugs companies accused of £150 million NHS fraud
UNITED KINGDOM - The Serious Fraud Office today began criminal proceedings against five pharmaceutical companies after a four-year investigation into alleged price-fixing of generic drugs sold to the NHS. Nine company executives have also been named in the charges, accused of conspiracy to defraud hospitals of up to £150 million by overcharging for the blood-thinning agent warfarin and a range of widely-available antibiotics.
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Sunday October 12 2003
updated on Tuesday December 21 2010URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2003/10/12/california_uncovers_pharma_fraud.htm
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