Aug. 30, 2007 -- Attorney General Paul Morrison announced today that he has reached a settlement with the Purdue Frederick Company, Inc. a New York corporation, and Purdue Pharma, L.P., a Delaware limited partnership (collectively “Purdue”), which are associated entities engaged in the manufacture, marketing and distribution of OxyContin, an extended-release form of oxycodone.
As a result of a four-year investigation by the United State’s Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Virginia, in conjunction with other state and federal law enforcement agencies, the Purdue Frederick Company plead guilty in the United States District Court for the Western District of Virginia to charges of knowingly and fraudulently misbranding OxyContin as being less addictive, less subject to abuse and diversion and less likely to cause tolerance and withdrawal problems than other pain medications. The top three executives of the company plead guilty in the same federal criminal proceeding to misdemeanor misbranding violations, which were strict liability offenses.
Purdue agreed that out of the $634.5 million settlement, it would pay $160 million to the federal government and state Medicaid programs to compensate the Medicaid programs for damages caused by the misbranding of OxyContin from 1995-2005.Under the terms of Morrison’s settlement, Kansas will recover $603,000 paid directly to the Kansas Medicaid program. Additional funds were reimbursed to the Federal government for it’s share of Medicaid costs paid in Kansas.
The civil settlements with Purdue will further require the company to enter into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in order to monitor the company’s operations and ensure future compliance with all laws and regulations.
The NAMFCU state settlement was led by the Directors of the New York, New Hampshire, Virginia and North Carolina Medicaid Fraud Control Units.