Fraud alleged by state

Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2003 | 9:35 a.m.

LOS ANGELES -- State Attorney General Bill Lockyer filed a complaint Tuesday against two pharmaceutical companies for allegedly cheating California taxpayers out of millions of dollars by inflating drug prices.

Lockyer accused Abbott Laboratories of Illinois and New Jersey-based Wyeth of reporting false prices, which California used to set its Medi-Cal reimbursement rates.

"This prescription drug-pricing fraud took advantage of sick patients and cost California taxpayers tens of millions of dollars in unnecessary health care costs," Lockyer said in a statement.

Abbott denied the charges. Representatives of Wyeth did not immediately return calls.

The attorney general said the companies inflated some drug prices by more than 1,000 percent.

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