Medco Health Solutions

Medco Health Solutions Inc., the biggest manager of employee prescription drug benefits, agreed to pay $155 million to settle U.S. allegations that it accepted kickbacks from drug makers and submitted false claims to the government. The settlement resolves two civil cases and an investigation by the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia, the Justice Department said Monday. The government also accused the company of paying kickbacks to health plans to obtain business.

Medco Health Solutions Inc., one of the nation's biggest pharmacy benefits managers, said Wednesday that it would buy Accredo Health Inc., a distributor of specialty drugs and services, in a $2.2-billion cash and stock deal to create the nation's largest specialty pharmacy business. The companies expect to generate more than $4 billion in annual revenue from their combined specialty drug businesses.

Medco Health Solutions Inc., a pharmacy-benefit manager, said Friday that two California pharmacies were suing the company and its former parent, Merck & Co., alleging anti-competitive practices including price fixing. The suit, filed in San Francisco County Superior Court, accuses Medco of setting prices above competitive levels and giving preferential treatment to Merck drugs, according to a Medco filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

In a case that could alter how prescriptions are filled, the nation's largest pharmacy benefits manager said Monday that it would pay $29 million to settle allegations by 20 states, including California, that it pressured doctors to switch patients' medications to benefit its bottom line. Medco Health Solutions Inc.

Interest rates on federally guaranteed student loans for the 2003-04 academic year are expected to drop to the lowest levels in the history of the programs, lenders said Wednesday. That's because yields on short-term Treasury bills are at generational lows. Rates on new and outstanding federal student loans are reset each July 1 based on T-bill yields at the end of May. At a Treasury auction Wednesday the yield on three-month T-bills was 1.12%.

Drug giant Merck & Co. said the planned spinoff of its Medco Health Solutions Inc. subsidiary to shareholders should happen this summer. Merck, which said in April that it would jettison Medco, on Wednesday filed details of the deal with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The transaction is expected to be tax-free to Merck holders. Medco is a pharmacy benefits management firm that develops prescription benefit programs for employers and runs a mail-order and online pharmacy.

Hartcourt Cos., an investment firm specializing in high-growth Chinese companies, raised $800,000 illegally by misrepresenting the purpose of 1 million shares of stock, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Wednesday. Hartcourt was based in Long Beach when the alleged offenses occurred in late 1999, the SEC said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in federal court in Los Angeles.

Federal prosecutors plan to sue Merck & Co.'s Medco Health Solutions Inc. unit, a manager of drug plans, alleging Medco improperly pushed expensive medicines and intentionally mishandled mail-order prescriptions. U.S. Atty. Patrick Meehan of Philadelphia intends to intervene in two cases brought by three whistle-blowers, his office said in a statement. The government said it won't pursue charges against Whitehouse Station, N.J.-based Merck.

Federal prosecutors have joined lawsuits accusing a pharmacy benefit company owned by Merck & Co. of pressuring doctors to switch patients to Merck's products even if a patient was doing well on another drug that cost less. U.S. Atty.

Federal prosecutors accused the nation's biggest pharmacy benefit management company of defrauding clients by destroying prescriptions, switching patients' medications without their consent and giving favorable treatment to drug companies that paid hefty rebates. A lawsuit filed in Philadelphia accuses Medco Health Solutions Inc.