Merck, however, said the settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing and liability. It maintained that its pricing, sales and marketing policies and practices are legal.
The lawsuits filed in the district courts of Louisiana and Philadelphia claim that Merck sold hospitals the cholesterol lowering drug Zocor and the painkilling drug Vioxx at low prices but overcharged Medicaid for the two drugs from 1997 to 2001.
The New Jersey-based drug maker was also accused of not paying proper rebates to government health care programs and illegally paid health care providers so they will prescribe Merck products to clients.
The seven-year case involved the first fully-coordinated whistleblower-federal-state Medicaid fraud investigation. The settlement is the first for a Medicaid fraud.
