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Drug Coupons Under Fire - Massachusetts Based Consumer Group Files Lawsuits Suit Seeking To Rule Drug Coupons Illegal

This was all over the internet beginning March 7th.

A Boston-based health activist group filed 7 lawsuits in US District Courts against eight drug companies alleging that drug coupons are used illegally as a form of "commercial bribery". The lawsuits seek a court ruling that co-payment subsidies are illegal and an order that the defendants stop offering the subsidies.


Here are 3 excerpts from published reports describing the above cited events:

Community Catalyst Files Suit Against 8 Drug Companies Regarding Drug Coupons - Three health plans file class action lawsuits in four federal courts against eight major drug companies

Consumer group sues 8 drugmakers over drug coupons … Community Catalyst alleges the increasingly common coupons appear to save patients money but increase overall health care costs significantly and violate federal bribery laws … identical lawsuits naming different defendants in federal courts in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia and Newark, N.J. …[AP via Boston.com]

Trade union health plans sue 8 pharma companies over drug coupons … companies being sued are Abbott Laboratories, Amgen Inc., AstraZeneca P.L.C., Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., GlaxoSmithKline P.L.C., Merck & Co., Novartis AG, and Pfizer Inc … Wells Wilkinson, director of the group’s Prescription Access Litigation project, said health-plan beneficiaries working for self-insured private companies, or state and local governments, will also be hurt long term by coupons …[Philly.com; Blog]

Lawsuits allege drugmakers are illegally subsidizing prescription drug co-payments… Presenting a co-pay subsidy card to a pharmacist triggers a secondary form of insurance — provided by the manufacturer … lawsuit describes the co-payment discounts as both an “illegal kickback’’ and “a form of insurance fraud.’’ … [NJ.com]

See Also: Community Catalyst Press Release