MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) - The state of Alabama has settled Medicaid drug pricing lawsuits it filed against drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb and four other companies.

For the first time ever, the American Association for Justice has approved a Class Action Litigation Group. The group will be co-chaired by Jay Aughtman of Beasley Allen.

David P. Sloane, speaking on behalf of the AARP as Senior Vice President for Government Relations and Advocacy, voiced the agency's support for Alabama's pending Average Wholesale Price (AWP) litigation against 72 pharmaceutical companies.

Alabama Medicaid Commissioner Carol Steckel, chair of the Executive Committee of the National Association of State Medicaid Directors (NASMD), has issued a "national alert" memo to all state Medicaid agencies on the drug-pricing fraud cases filed in Alabama by Attorney General Troy King. Steckel is urging all of her fellow Medicaid directors to follow the Alabama cases for their nationwide impact on prescription drug prices.

MONTGOMERY, ALA. - After winning three cases against drug manufacturers, the State of Alabama has requested that the 69 companies in the remaining lawsuits be settled.  Initially, the State Medicaid Agency sued 72 drug manufacturers for falsely reporting reimbursement drug prices to the State.  Two companies settled with the State.  The three companies that have been tried have each been found guilty of fraudulent conduct by Montgomery County juries.

MONTGOMERY, ALA - Jere Beasley, founding shareholder of Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C., announced this morning Alabama Attorney General Troy King has put 69 pharmaceutical companies accused of defrauding Alabama's Medicaid system on notice they have 30 days to settle or be brought to trial.

MONTGOMERY, ALA. - Jere Beasley, founding shareholder of Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C., who is representing the State of Alabama in a series of cases against pharmaceutical companies accused of defrauding the state Medicaid system, will hold a news conference tomorrow, July 3, 2008, at 10 a.m. CT to address important developments in the remaining 69 cases.

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.

MONTGOMERY, ALA. - After a week of testimony and two days of deliberations, an Alabama jury today returned a verdict of $80.9 million against pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline and $33.2 million against Novartis. The companies were accused of illegally overcharging the State of Alabama for Medicaid drugs.

The jury reached a decision Tuesday afternoon in the fraud lawsuit brought by the state against two drug companies. The jury awarded the state a little more than $33,000,000 in compensatory damages from Novartis Pharmaceutical Company and almost $81,000,000 in compensatory damages from GlaxoSmithKline also known as GSK.