Projo 7 to 7 News Blog

The state has received a settlement from a New York-based pharmaceutical company accused of inflating prices and paying doctors and pharmacies to use their products.

Bristol-Myers Squibb paid Rhode Island $628,071 as part of a $389 million settlement paid out to 43 states and Washington D.C., according Beryl Kenyon, spokeswoman for the Attorney General.

The money will go to the Department of Human Services, Kenyon said, because that is the department that administers Medicaid.

Bristol-Myers Squibb was also accused of promoting its antipsychotic drug, Abilify, for pediatric use and for dementia-related psychosis -- uses which the federal Food and Drug Administration has not approved.

The company did not admit liability when it settled in November of last year.

The full Rhode Island settlement totaled $1,343,850; the Attorney General's Medicaid Fraud Control Unit recovered $628,071 and the remainder of the money was paid to the federal government, as per the settlement agreement.

-- projo.com staff writer Brandie M. Jefferson

 Tags  Attorney General Medicaid settlement

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