An attorney for the state of Alabama on Monday asked a jury to order Germany-based generic drug manufacturer Sandoz to pay as much as $170 million for allegedly overcharging the state's Medicaid program for prescription drugs for more than 10 years, the Miami Herald reports. Sandoz, a subsidiary of Novartis, is one of more than 70 prescription drug manufacturers that were sued by Alabama Attorney General Troy King in 2005 over Medicaid drug pricing dating back to 1991. State attorney Jere Beasley (R) asked jurors to reward the state with about $28.4 million in compensatory damages and nearly five times that amount in punitive damages.

Sandoz attorney Tabor Novak said that the company reported accurate prices and that it saved Alabama millions of dollars by providing less-costly generic drugs. He added that state officials did not understand the process of determining prices.

The state has settled 10 of the lawsuits for nearly $35 million. AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis have appealed their cases to the state Supreme Court (Johnson, Miami Herald, 2/23).

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