Kansas Attorney General Announces Settlement With Flu Vaccine Distributor

A Florida company that was sued for violating the Kansas Consumer Protection Act for allegedly over-inflating the price of flu vaccine has agreed to settlement terms with the state, Attorney General Phill Kline announced last week.

Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.- based Meds-Stat was sued by Kline last month after an undercover investigation conducted by the Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division of his office revealed that the company solicited Kansas health agencies, hospitals, and pharmacies in an attempt to sell the flu vaccine at prices nearly 1,000 percent higher than they were two weeks earlier when a worldwide shortage of the vaccine was announced.

The swift legal action taken by the attorney general prevented the sale of any vaccine in the state at those prices.

Under the settlement, Meds-Stat has agreed to:

• Affirm that they sold no vaccine in Kansas at the record prices;

• Alter any future solicitations to comply with Kansas law;

• Reimburse the state for the cost of the investigation, litigation, and other legal fees and

expenses, and;

• Work with Attorney General Phill Kline’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Division to identify problems inherent in the vaccine distribution network to prevent future instances of  price gouging of pharmaceuticals.

Source: Kansas Attorney General