Pfizer Inc. has agreed to pay almost $491 million to settle allegations it illegally marketed an organ transplant drug and will return more than $27 million to state health care programs, including nearly $167,000 to Arkansas’.
The settlement with Pfizer was announced Tuesday and includes civil settlements with the federal government and the states totaling $257 million. About $230 million will go to the government and the rest will go to state Medicaid programs.
Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel said Arkansas’ share is $166,713.92.
The government alleged that Wyeth Pharmaceuticals, which was purchased by Pfizer in 2009, promoted the drug Rapamune for unapproved uses. Some of those uses were not medically accepted and were not covered by Medicaid, Medicare and other federal health care programs.