Drugmaker pays Mo. $11M for Medicaid fraud claims

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) -- Bristol-Myers Squibb has agreed to pay Missouri more than $11 million to resolve claims of Medicaid fraud.

The payment is part of a national settlement in which the drug-maker has agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to 44 states and the federal government. Missouri's portion of the settlement was announced Tuesday.

The New York-based pharmaceutical giant and former generic subsidiary Apothecon are accused of bilking states by overstating prices for prescription drugs and bribing pharmacies and doctors to use the companies' medicines.

The drugmakers are also accused of promoting an off-label use for an anti-psychotic drug and engaging in a scheme to lower the rebate payments that the pharmaceutical companies had to pay to the states.