"Pro Business" Court Lets Big Pharma Off the Hook on Fraud

* Committing fraud against the Medicaid program hurts the elderly, the disabled, the young, and the poor as well as every Alabama taxpayer;

*AstraZeneca--one of the companies--entered a guilty plea to a charge of criminal fraud in federal court involving state Medicaid reimbursement;

*AstraZeneca paid a criminal fine of $570 million relating to that criminal guilty plea;

* AstraZeneca settled state Medicaid fraud cases involving reimbursement for $355 Million;

* A top official at AstraZeneca prepared an internal pricing document containing a virtual roadmap for cheating state Medicaid agencies;

* AstraZeneca as a part of the settlements mentioned above--agreed to submit true prices to state Medicaid agencies;

* AARP--a national group with 500,000 Alabama members--has fully supported Alabama in its lawsuit against the drug companies and in the appeal;

* 13 state Attorneys General have supported Alabama's position and each filed a brief on Alabama's behalf;

* Since the Alabama case was tried--and after the case was appealed in July 2008 to the Alabama Supreme Court--a Federal Appeals Court heard a separate appeal in a case where AstraZeneca was found guilty in Federal Court of fraudulent conduct in a Medicaid reimbursement case--in a strong opinion and affirmed the trial court;

* The Federal Appeals Court found that AstraZeneca was guilty of extremely bad conduct;

* Yesterday, a Kentucky jury, after hearing the same evidence Alabama lawyers developed and presented in the Alabama case, delivered a verdict against the drug manufacturer in the amount of $14.72 million; and

Taking all of the above into consideration, and knowing the facts of this case, it is extremely difficult to see how the Alabama Supreme Court could side with the drug companies and against the citizens of Alabama who are in the Medicaid program and against all Alabamians who pay taxes that support the Medicaid program. These folks are the losers today and politically powerful drug companies declared winners by the Alabama Supreme Court. This is a sad day for the Alabama Medicaid Program and all Alabama taxpayers.