Arizona suing McKesson corporation over drug costs

The state of Arizona has accused the country’s biggest prescription drug wholesaler of price gouging. 

The McKesson Corporation distributes pharmaceuticals to big stores like Albertson’s, Costco, and Walgreens. Arizona is suing McKesson for manipulating the prices of hundreds of popular brand-name prescription drugs. The suit alleges that beginning in 2000, McKesson executives fraudulently inflated the average wholesale cost of the drugs.

 “They conspired to raise prices higher than they would have been under normal market forces," said Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne. He's asking the court to fine McKesson $10,000 for each violation of the state's Consumer Fraud Act.

“The number of violations is so high, I don’t know that we could ever expect to recover the amount that would be calculated from that. It would just be through the stratosphere,” Horne said.

Horne says the state hasn't yet determined how any financial award would be spent.