The Texas Attorney General announced on Wednesday that Pfizer (PFE) and privately owned Tris Pharma have reached a $41.5M settlement to resolve a lawsuit alleging that the duo provided an adulterated attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder medication to the state.
According to the suit filed by Texas AG Ken Paxton in 2023, Pfizer (PFE) and Tris supplied an ADHD medication called Quillivant XR to children on Texas Medicaid despite the drug’s tendency to fail quality control tests due to faulty production methods.
The lawsuit further claimed that the duo continued to manipulate Quillivant’s testing methods, breaching federal and state laws to ensure that the liquid medication meets regulatory standards and gets included in the Texas Medicaid program.
“Pfizer and Tris Pharma provided adulterated drugs to children for years and changed test results in order to obtain the benefit of taxpayer-funded Medicaid reimbursement,” Paxton said, adding, “under my watch, Big Pharma will not escape justice for lying about the effectiveness of its drugs.”
Pfizer (PFE) denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, Reuters reported. The New York-based pharma giant added in a statement that its investigations found no impact from Paxton’s claims on Quillivant’s safety when used in children.