CVS Caremark agrees to pay $36.7 million to settle claims by the Justice Department and a number of state attorneys general that it improperly switched patients from the tablet version of ranitidine (generic Zantac) to the more expensive capsules to boost Medicaid reimbursement levels. The payment will go to settle a whistleblower suit filed in 2003 by pharmacist Bernard Lisitza and will be split among the federal government, 23 states and the District of Columbia, and Lisitza, DOJ announces March 18. CVS Caremark also enters into a five-year compliance agreement with HHS to ensure it does not improperly switch drugs in the future. Lisitza initiated a similar but unrelated suit against Omnicare that was settled in November 2006

Pink Sheet reporters and editor discuss President-Elect Joe Biden’s decision to name the CDER director as acting FDA commissioner and other staffing changes, as well as changes to industry trade groups’ political donations.

Delfi Diagnostics will use the new funds to expand its team of cancer researchers and machine-learning experts to validate its novel approach for early cancer detection through multiple prospective clinical trials.