Pa. gets $2.7 million from Glaxo national settlement involving claims of drug price-fixing

Older Pennsylvanians will benefit from settlement dollars that came from the resolution

of a lawsuit against drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline, in which the pharmaceutical company was accused of engaging in false and misleading drug pricing practices.

Pennsylvania Attorney General Linda Kelly announced this week that $2.7 million from the Keystone State’s share of the settlement will be given to the state’s Department of Aging, specifically to be doled out to the department’s PACE program, one of the commonwealth’s three prescription assistance programs that help older adults on limited incomes.

The settlement dollars were awarded to Pennsylvania by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts.

“This case goes all the way back to 2004,” Kelly said in a statement. “It shows you the persistence of our team of anti-trust people who fight to protect consumers. Now this money can be used to help some deserving people in Pennsylvania.”

GlaxoSmithKline was one of 13 pharmaceutical manufacturers accused of falsely setting average wholesale prices for their drugs, according to Kelly’s office.

The company settled the case in 2007, and consumers began being reimbursed the following year.

The $2.7 million represents Pennsylvania’s share of the money that remained after all other claims had been satisfied, according to the Attorney General’s Office.

Kelly announced that the settlement money will be targeted to help the working poor since they are the citizens who most often fall in a so-called “gap” in drug coverage.

“In many cases they are given little or no help to pay for their prescription drugs because they make too much money to qualify for Medicaid or other programs,” states an Attorney General’s Office news release.

The other states that joined Pennsylvania in the drug settlement are Arizona, Connecticut, Montana and Nevada.