Tuesday, January 17, 2012 by: Jonathan Benson, staff writer
(NaturalNews) Patients who had certain prescriptions filled at Walgreens between 1999 and 2006 may not have received the drugs they thought they did, or at the price they should have. A new class-action lawsuit accuses Walgreens of conspiring with generic drug-maker Par Pharmaceutical Co. to overcharge for certain generic drugs, and to substitute other more expensive drugs in place of what was actually prescribed.
Filed by the United Food and Commercial Workers Unions and Employers Midwest Health and Pension Fund, the lawsuit alleges that Walgreens violated federal racketeering laws by setting up special arrangements with Par to illegally substitute more expensive generic drugs in place of less expensive ones, which mutually boosted profits for both Walgreens and Par.
“Walgreens and Par engaged in at least two widespread schemes to overcharge insurance companies, self-insured employers and union health and welfare funds … for the generic versions of Zantac, Prozac, and other drugs,” says the suit.
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