| TRENTON
--New Jersey Attorney General Zulima V.
Farber announced that New Jersey will receive
more than $420,000 as part of a national
14 million dollar, multi-state settlement
with SmithKline Beecham Corporation (GlaxoSmithKline)
concerning allegations that the company
blocked the sale of generic versions of
the anti-depressant drug paxil. The state
complaint was filed on behalf of New Jersey
consumers and state agencies by the Division
of Criminal Justice - Financial Crimes Bureau.
“Today’s
settlement is part of continuing efforts
by the Attorney General’s Office to
protect New Jersey consumers and government
agencies from those corporations that would
conspire to manipulate the regulatory system
and marketplace for financial gain,”
Attorney General Farber said. “This
settlement is a significant victory for
the State of New Jersey and its residents
and will help compensate state agencies
for overpayments of the drug.”
According to Attorney General Farber, the
national settlement resolves claims that
GlaxoSmithKline delayed generic competition
by fraudulently listing and prosecuting
litigation concerning paxil – paroxetine
hydrochloride, a drug used to treat depressive,
anxiety, and obsessive-compulsive disorders.
The settlement secures recovery for New
Jersey’s Medicaid purchases of paxil.
Gregory
A. Paw, Director, Division of Criminal Justice,
noted that the national settlement provides
$420,267 to New Jersey as compensation to
the state Medicaid Program for overpayments
for the drug paxil.
Based
on a multi-state investigation, the settlement
is built upon the class action settlement
in Nichols v. SmithKlineBeecham Corp. which
successfully obtained a patent litigation
victory at trial by generic manufacturers.
The
settlement secures recovery for purchasers
excluded from the class definition as represented
by state attorneys general. Medicaid is
the most significant state purchaser excluded
from the class action settlement, representing
over 90 percent of such purchases. Other
state proprietary purchases for indigent
care are also within the state settlement
and excluded from the class settlement.
Deputy
Director and Assistant Attorney General
Andrew Rossner and Deputy Attorney General
Steven Zweig of the Division of Criminal
Justice, Financial Crimes-Antitrust Bureau,
coordinated New Jersey’s participation
in the national lawsuit.
Additional
information regarding the class settlement
is available at www.paxilclaims.com.
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