MONTGOMERY, Ala., July 3 (Reuters) - The state of Alabama said on Thursday it would offer 69 drug companies it sued over alleged Medicaid price-fixing 30 days to reach a settlement before taking further legal action.

July 1 (Bloomberg) -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis AG inflated drug prices paid by Alabama's Medicaid program and must pay the state $114.3 million in damages, a jury ruled after a two-week civil-fraud trial. After deliberating for 5 1/2 hours yesterday and today, the state jury in Montgomery, Alabama, found the drugmakers liable for misrepresentation.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - A state court jury on Tuesday found two major pharmaceutical companies defrauded Alabama in a long-running Medicaid drug pricing scheme and ordered the firms to pay more than $114 million in damages. The jury found that GlaxoSmithKline should pay the state $80.8 million in compensatory damages and that Novartis should pay about $33.7 million in similar damages. But it declined to order any punitive damages.

Attorneys have completed closing arguments in the trial of the state of Alabama's lawsuit against two prescription drug companies. The jury now has the case. An attorney for the state of Alabama has asked jurors to make two drug companies pay as much as $800 million in a lawsuit accusing the firms of fraud in Medicaid drug pricing.

An attorney for Alabama asked jurors Monday to award the state as much as $800 million from two pharmaceutical companies accused of overcharging for Medicaid drugs. The state claims GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis engaged in fraud from 1991 to 2005, depriving the cash-strapped Medicaid program of badly needed resources. Attorneys for the two firms said the companies followed federal rules and the prices were proper.

Investors might find it easier to sue insurance agents and carriers, thanks to new standards from the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards Inc., attorneys said.

The Alabama Supreme Court ruled Friday that more than one pharmaceutical company can be tried at the same time in the state's lawsuit accusing more than 70 drug companies of fraud in over­charging the state's Medicaid pro­gram.

(Bloomberg) -- GlaxoSmithKline Plc and Novartis AG must face trial together in a lawsuit in which Alabama accuses them of inflating drug prices, costing the state Medicaid program $130 million in overcharges, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled.

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The Alabama Supreme Court has ruled that more than one pharmaceutical company can be tried at the same time in the state's lawsuit accusing drug companies of overcharging the state's Medicaid program.

A state court jury awarded Alabama $215 million in its Medicaid drug-price fraud suit against an AstraZeneca PLC unit.