Hawaii files lawsuit over alleged drug overcharges

Hawaii on Wednesday filed a lawsuit against two companies to recover what the state believes were prescription drug overcharges.

Attorney General Mark Bennett announced Wednesday that the case was filed against McKesson ( MCK - news - people ) Corp., a wholesaler of pharmaceutical products, and First DataBank Inc., which compiles and publishes pricing information regarding pharmaceutical products. The information is used by Hawaii's Medicaid program, among others.

The lawsuit filed in state circuit court alleged the companies inflated the average wholesale prices for certain brand-name pharmaceutical products, and thus the state wound up overpaying Medicaid providers when reimbursing them.

"To our knowledge, First DataBank has not yet been served with any such lawsuit and, therefore, we cannot comment at this time," First DataBank spokeswoman Denise Apcar said in an e-mail.

A call seeking comment from McKesson wasn't immediately returned.

The state described the lawsuit as part of its ongoing effort to recover prescription drug overcharges.

(Published by Forbes - November 11, 2010)