Mass. settles with drug company

The office of Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley said today it has reached a $2 million settlement with Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. to resolve allegations of improperly reporting drug prices.

In agreeing to the settlement, New Jersey-based Barr denied any wrongdoing.

The commonwealth sued Barr subsidiaries Barr Laboratories Inc. and Duramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., along with nearly a dozen other generic drug manufacturers, for allegedly inflating the prices that they reported to national price reporting services; state Medicaid programs use those reported prices to determine how much they will pay for drugs dispensed by pharmacies to their Medicaid recipients.

The settlement resolves the commonwealth's claims against Barr, said Coakley's office, which added that litigation is ongoing against other drug companies in the suit.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)