In addition to handling cases against drug manufacturers involving the fraudulent pricing of prescription drugs, the States of Alaska, Hawaii, Kansas, and Louisiana have filed lawsuits against the major drug wholesaler, McKesson Corporation, for its role in the AWP scheme. It’s alleged in these cases that from 1991 to 2009, McKesson associated itself with First Data Bank to unlawfully and artificially increase the Wholesale Acquisition Cost (WAC) to Average Wholesale Price (AWP) markup factor for a number of brand name prescription drugs.

The deceptive practices of McKesson and First DataBank resulted in the publication of false and misleading AWP prices. Each of the four states relied on those prices in making payments for brand name prescription drugs. The scheme by McKesson and First DataBank created overpayments for most brand name prescription drugs. This is in addition to the overpayments induced by the manufacturers’ fraudulent prices, which are the subject of separate, but related AWP litigation filed by numerous states.

Lawyers: Dee Miles, Roman Shaul, Clay Barnett, Alison Douillard, Bill Hopkins, and Chad Stewart

Primary Staff Contacts: Beth Warren and Jessica Sutherland