Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is suing Pfizer and drug maker Tris Pharma for fraud, alleging they provide “mixed” attention deficit disorder drugs to underprivileged children in the Lone Star State.
The lawsuit alleges Pfizer knowingly distributed the powerful children’s ADHD drug Quillivant to children on Medicaid “despite knowing Quillivant was tainted due to poor manufacturing practices,” and even though samples of the drug failed routine quality control tests.
When the patient’s family complained that the drug didn’t work, Pfizer and Tris “manipulated Quillivant’s trials to hide bad manufacturing practices and defraud the Texas Medicaid program”.
As a result, thousands of Texas children received “tainted Schedule II Controlled Hazardous Substances,” Paxton claimed.
The lawsuit accuses Pfizer and Tris of defrauding the Texas Medicaid program. Getty Images Paxton has declared war on “pharmaceutical companies that violate public trust and hurt the people of Texas.”Getty Images
Pfizer initially blamed the children and their caregivers, pointing out that they did not shake the medicine properly before using it.
“I am appalled by the dishonesty we have uncovered in this investigation,” Paxton said in a statement.
“Pfizer and Tris willfully concealed and failed to disclose issues with Quillivant in order to receive taxpayer-funded benefits through Texas Medicaid, defrauding the state and harming children.”
Paxton claims that both pharmaceutical companies are “putting children at risk.” AP
A separate lawsuit alleges Tris and its CEO Ketan Mehta exaggerated the effectiveness of another ADHD drug for children, Dyanavel, and thereby defrauded the Texas Medicaid program.
“Tris directed their sales representatives to convey false and misleading messages about Dyanavel to physicians in Texas, including Medicaid physicians,” the suit alleges. “Sales representatives falsely told doctors that Dyanavel worked significantly faster than other drugs and provided other unproven benefits to pediatric patients.”
Paxton has declared war on “pharmaceutical companies that violate public trust and hurt the people of Texas. [They] will be brought to justice in full accordance with the law.”
In each lawsuit, which was unsealed Monday, Texas is seeking more than $1 million in damages, fines and the return of all Medicaid funds.
The lawsuit is the latest in the Attorney General’s campaign against Pfizer, which it claims overstated the effectiveness of its COVID-19 vaccine.
He launched an investigation last May into Pfizer and Moderna.
Both vaccine manufacturers have vehemently denied the AG’s allegations.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
