AG says drug prices were misrepresented

Monday, Feb. 12, 2001 | 10:53 a.m.

The prices of more than 400 drugs have been modified as the national Medicaid Fraud Control Unit investigates allegations that pharmaceutical manufacturers were misrepresenting the prices of a variety of drugs.

The change in prices occurred in May, and the investigation is continuing, Nevada Attorney General Frankie Sue Del Papa said.

"By setting artificially high price indexes, and then subsequently selling drugs at dramatic discounts, the manufacturers induced physicians to use their products as opposed to less expensive equivalent products," Del Papa said. "It also meant that state Medicaid programs were significantly overpaying for these drugs."

An example of the price changes is the average wholesale price of Doxorubicin, a drug used in cancer treatment.

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