FOR GRANTS TO BENEFIT THE HEALTH CARE NEEDS
OF CONSUMERS WITH HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE AND ANGINA
The deadline for Grant Applications was November 21,
2008. Applications are no longer being accepted.
The Cardizem Settlement Fund was the result of the settlement
of antitrust lawsuits brought by the state attorneys general
and private class action plaintiffs against two drug companies
accused of conspiring to keep a generic version of a widely
used medication off the market. (In re Cardizem CD Antitrust
Litigation, Master File No. 99-MDL-1278 (E.D. Mich) (NGE).)
The suits alleged that beginning in July 1998, Hoechst (a pharmaceutical
company subsequently acquired by Aventis Pharmaceuticals, Inc.)
paid Andrx Corporation over $89 million not to market a generic
form of Cardizem CD and to delay the availability of the generic
form of Cardizem CD. As a result, consumers, medical insurance
companies and the government had to purchase the higher priced,
brand name version of the drug for over 11 months. Cardizem
CD is a controlled release form of diltiazem for treatment
of high blood pressure (hypertension) and for management of
chronic stable angina and angina due to coronary artery spasm.
Before trial and without admitting liability, Hoechst and
Andrx agreed to pay $80 million to settle the lawsuits asserted
on behalf of consumers, states and third party payers. Of this
amount, approximately $21 million was for a Consumer Settlement
Fund to compensate consumers who purchased Cardizem CD in 1998
and 1999. After notice and hearing, the U.S. District Court
for the Eastern District of Michigan approved the settlement
and distribution of over $21 million to over 76,000 consumers,
and in July 2008 the Honorable Nancy G. Edmunds approved our
selection to administer the remainder of the funds.
On behalf of the New York State Attorney General and the Attorneys
General of all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto
Rico, we solicited applications from nonprofit organizations
and public agencies for grants to benefit the health care needs
of consumers with hypertension, chronic stable angina and/or
angina due to coronary artery spasm. At the close of the application
period 16 applications were received requesting a total of
more than $3 million in grant funds. The New York State Attorney
General and other Attorneys General approved and awarded two
grants totaling $262,000 in remaining funds.
• Consumers Union of U.S., Inc. ($131,000) to
popularize and communicate nationally developed, evidence-based
guidelines to consumers for clinical preventive services for
heart and vascular diseases.
• Visiting Nurse Associations of America. ($131,000)
to expand the Heart Failure section of its Chronic Conditions
Clearinghouse to include best practices and education on hypertension
and angina for home healthcare clinicians and patients with
coronary artery spasms.
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