Two whistleblower suits against drug manufacturer, Wyeth, have been joined by 16 states and the United States, for allegedly failing to provide the government with the same discounts as it did to private purchasers of its drugs, Protonix Oral and Protonix IV.

Under the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program drug manufacturers have to report the prices they charge so those on Medicaid receive the same discounts offered to commercial customers. Wyeth offered steep discounts to hospitals that bought the two drugs together; an offer that was unavailable and unnecessary to Medicaid and therefore avoided payment, by Wyeth, of hundreds of millions of dollars in rebates.

The investigation was conducted by the Civil Division of the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts and the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services.