Alabama Supreme Court ruling favors Sandoz in Medicaid pricing case

The USA’s Alabama Supreme Court came out in favor of Sandoz, the generics subsidiary of Swiss drug major Novartis (NOVN: VX), overturning the earlier $78.4 Montgomery County Circuit Court’s February 2009 jury verdict against the company, ruling on Friday that there was no evidence to support allegations that the company defrauded the Alabama Medicaid Agency.

The State of Alabama had argued that the generic drug prices provided by Sandoz to reporting services resulted in overpayment to pharmacists by the Alabama State Medicaid system. The Supreme Court justices ruled seven to one in an unsigned opinion that the case should not even have made it to jurors, much less resulted in a verdict against the company.

2005 case involved 73 pharma manufacturers