settle

The Justice Department said that British pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline has agreed to pay a $150 million fine to settle fraud charges stemming from its pricing and marketing of two antinausea drugs. The company is accused of inflating the prices it charged Medicaid and Medicare programs for Zofran and Kytril. The two drugs are commonly used to combat nausea caused by radiation treatments. story  

Merck said it will consider settling a limited number of the Vioxx lawsuits filed against it. In an interview Thursday, the company's general counsel said the company is weighing settling cases which meet certain narrow criteria, particularly those in which the painkiller was taken for more than 18 months. Kenneth Fraser said the company may settle a "small number of the suits" filed against it. Fraser ruled out a "broad global settlement," however. Legal observers say the decision is an …

WellPoint announced this morning that it will pay $135 million to settle class-action lawsuits brought by physicians who accuse the company of unfair reimbursement practices. The deal would affect more than 700,000 physicians in the US participating in two major lawsuits against the insurer and other managed care companies. The settlement, which still must be approved by the courts, appears to resolve a major question mark for the nation's largest insurer at a time when it faces increased …

Officials at Staten Island University Hospital agreed yesterday to pay back the state of New York $79 million to settle a case of Medicaid fraud. Many analysts are citing the hospital's billing problems as evidence of how difficult it can be for providers to change internal policies and procedures which may violate the rules. The fine is the second paid by the hospital in the last decade. The hospital paid a $45 million fine to the government in 1996. Story