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U.S. Joins Whistleblower Case Against Medco


WASHINGTON (Reuters) Sept 29 - U.S. authorities said on Monday they had
joined in private lawsuits charging that pharmacy benefits manager Medco
Health Solutions Inc. defrauded a health benefits program for federal
workers.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Meehan said the government had filed a complaint
intervening in two whistleblower suits, which contend Medco made false
claims and lied to patients, doctors and investigators in connection
with a contract to provide mail-order prescription drug benefits to
government workers.

Medco issued an immediate denial, saying the whistleblowers at the
center of the case had little credibility.

"We believe that each of the allegations is false, overstated, or
pertains to unauthorized instances over several years that were
identified and corrected," said Medco Health General Counsel David
Machlowitz.

"If required, we are prepared to provide a vigorous defense to these
allegations and we expect to prevail," Machlowitz said.

The whistleblower suit accuses Medco of, among other things,
intimidating pharmacists to certify new prescriptions without directly
contacting patients' doctors, and shortchanging patients on the number
of pills they were supposed to receive in their prescriptions.

The suit also says Medco deceived doctors into prescribing more
expensive drugs and favored drugs marketed by its former parent company,
Merck & Co. Inc. (MRK.N), over those of other manufacturers, even when
Merck drugs were more expensive.

Meehan, the federal prosecutor in Philadelphia, said the allegations
"suggest that, somewhere along the line, the focus became the profit
instead of the patient."

"Pressure by an employer to reduce costs and increase profits must never
be allowed to coerce pharmacists into ignoring their duties to
patients," Meehan said.

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http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/462240?mpid=19481