NEWS IN BRIEF

In settlement, state

receives $5 million

Attorney General Dustin McDaniel announced Tuesday that Arkansas, other states and the federal government have reached a $500 million settlement with an India-based manufacturer of generic medications over allegations that the company introduced adulterated drugs into the U.S. market.

Arkansas’ Medicaid program, with federal matching funds added, will receive $5,169,317 as a result of the settlement.

“When pharmaceutical companies cut corners to increase their profits, it’s taxpayers who bear the costs of those illegal actions,” McDaniel said.

McDaniel and other attorneys general alleged that the pharmaceutical manufacturer Ranbaxy knowingly manufactured, distributed and sold generic drugs with strength, purity or quality that fell below U.S. standards. Ranbaxy’s actions caused false and fraudulent claims to be submitted to the Arkansas Medicaid program.

The company is accused of adulterating 26 generic products.

Ranbaxy USA, a subsidiary of Ranbaxy, has pleaded guilty in federal court to seven criminal violations of the U.S. Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act.

  • Jack Weatherly

UA student team wins $10,000 prize

Picasolar, a graduate business-plan team representing the University of Arkansas at Fayetteville, won the first ever Banana Republic Grad Student Challenge, taking home $10,000.

Picasolar has developed methods to make solar panels up to 15 percent more efficient and less costly to manufacture. The win last week brings the team’s total competition winnings to $313,500 this spring, according to a release Tuesday.

Picasolar also won $250,000 in prize money in the MIT Clean Energy Prize in Boston on May 7.

  • John MagsamState index closes at high of 282.62

The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, jumped 3.68 to 282.62 Tuesday, marking another all-time high.

“The Dow rose for the 18th consecutive Tuesday, the S&P 500 Index gained over 16 points to close at an all-time high and the Nasdaq Exchange finished at its best level since October 2000 amid indications of limited inflation pressure following a report that import prices declined in April by the most since December,” said Bob Williams, senior vice president and managing director of Delta Trust Investments Inc. in LittleRock.

The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.

Business, Pages 25 on 05/15/2013

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