AbbVie, Abbott Accused of Skimping On AIDS Drug Discounts

PHOTO/rick saia AbbVie's Worcester research facility employs roughly 700 people.

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A lawsuit has accused Abbott Laboratories and its spinoff AbbVie of failing to provide legally required discounts for HIV drugs, resulting in the AIDS Healthcare Foundation (AHF) being overcharged by more than $2 million between 2005 and 2013.

The California suit, filed Nov. 26, claims Abbott and AbbVie – which oversees the HIV treatments -- didn’t adhere to the requirement of a program that gives discounts to certain hospitals and clinics on outpatient drugs for the indigent. AbbVie employs 700 in Worcester at its research and development facility.

“Although AHF made Abbott aware that we were wrongly charged the non-discounted prices before filing this lawsuit, Abbott basically refused to reimburse AHF the excess amount AHF paid for Abbott’s drugs,” AHF president Michael Weinstein said in a statement. “As a result, Abbott has now forced AHF to seek judicial intervention to obtain the critically needed discounted drug pricing to which AHF is – and was – entitled.”

AbbVie insists it has extended discount pricing to all entities eligible for the program.

“We believe AHF’s claims result from AHF’s internal administrative errors during the time period in question and are without merit,” said AbbVie spokesman Dirk van Eeden.

AHF said it filed the suit to fight the trend of drugmakers imposing unreasonable restrictions on the ability of hospitals and clinics to qualify for discount pricing. The Los Angeles-based nonprofit filed a nearly identical suit against Johnson & Johnson in October.