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(BATON ROUGE, La., (KNOE 8 News - Pharmaceutical companies will pay the state more than $18.6 for misreporting drug price information.

The companies will be paying for misreporting drug price information to Louisiana's Medicaid program, according to La. Attorney General Buddy Caldwell.

Caldwell said that the fraudulent over-pricing and marketing of prescription drugs has caused the Louisiana Medicaid program to grossly over-pay for various drug prescriptions, "This office has already recovered millions of Medicaid dollars, and millions more will be recovered. We want drug companies who do business with the state's Medicaid program to know that we will hold them accountable for their actions."

"We've taken significant steps to improve the integrity of our Medicaid pharmacy program, including a move away from such fraudulently inflated drug price schedules," said DHH Secretary Bruce D. Greenstein. "We will continue our collaboration with the Attorney General to protect the integrity of our program, so that providers are reimbursed fairly for the services they provide, Medicaid recipients receive the prescriptions they need, and taxpayers know that their dollars are properly spent." 

The five companies who will pay the state a combined total of $18,683,000 million are:

The proceeds recovered in this litigation will be returned to Louisiana's Medicaid program.