AmerisourceBergen (ABC +0.7%) has agreed to pay 44 states and the federal government $625M to settle civil charges of distributing unapproved and adulterated drugs related to the alleged misbehavior of an Alabama pharmacy owned by subsidiary AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group (ABSG). It seems that the pharmacy in question was behind a number of false Medicaid claims for unapproved new drugs and defective, contaminated or otherwise compromised medications. There were also instances of double billing for the same product.
The pharmacy supposedly repackaged vials of certain drugs into pre-filled syringes which it shipped to oncology practices and doctors treating cancer patients. The “overfill” scheme enabled the pharmacy to boost profits from the vial formulations, but represented increased risk to patients since the activities were performed in an unsterile environment which resulted in a number of cases of contaminated product.
ABSG agreed to pay $260M in criminal fines and forfeitures.
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