Drug Price-Fixing Settlement Gets Tentative OK

A federal judge in Chicago gave preliminary approval to a settlement in which four drug companies will pay nearly $343 million to end claims they conspired to charge higher prices to pharmacies than to managed-care facilities. U.S. District Judge Charles Korcoras set Sept. 9 as the date for final approval of the settlement. The drug companies agreeing to the settlement were Illinois-based Abbott Laboratories, which will pay $57 million; the Hoechst Marion Roussel unit of Hoechst of Germany, paying $149.5 million; New Jersey-based Pharmacia & Upjohn Inc., which is to pay $102.5 million; and Rhone-Poulenc Rorer Inc., pharmaceutical unit of France’s Rhone-Poulenc, which will pay $33.9 million. The settlement brings to 15 the total number of drug companies that have settled, and the total settlement figure to more than $700 million. The companies involved are promising to put an end to the so-called dual pricing system in which managed-care companies got discounts.