State begins sending out checks from drug company settlement

SEATTLE – The state began mailing 1,127 checks worth a total of $403,000 Monday as part of a national settlement for consumers who overpaid for blood pressure medication.

The state was among 27 states and several private plaintiff groups that sued Aventis Pharmaceuticals and Andrx Corp. in 1998, saying the companies conspired to keep a cheaper, generic version of Cardizem CD off the market. Millions of people use the once-a-day prescription drug to treat high blood pressure and angina.

“This was not a case of a company trying to earn a reasonable profit for a new product,” Attorney General Rob McKenna said in a written statement. “It was a deliberate and illegal maneuver by two drug manufacturers who sought to enrich themselves at the expense of vulnerable consumers.”

The defendants settled in 2002 but the case was held up by an appeal. In May, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear the final appeal and a trial judge approved the reimbursements.

Aventis and Andrx will pay a total of $80 million, with $24 million of that going to more than 76,000 consumers throughout the United States and Puerto Rico who bought Cardizem CD between January 1998 and January 2003. The rest of the settlement will go to the states and consumers represented in private class actions.