St. Jude Medical Pays $3.7M To End Investigation

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday that St. Jude Medical Inc. will pay almost $3.7 million to settle allegations it overcharged the government for implantable heart devices.

The Justice Department said St. Jude overcharged the Department of Defense and the Department of Veterans Affairs for replacement pacemakers and defibrillators.

It said the St. Paul, Minn., company marketed the devices to the government "by touting the generous credits available should a device need to be replaced while covered under warranty," but when a device was replaced while still under warranty, it often failed to grant the appropriate credits.

The government said that St. Jude's actions amounted to overstating the cost of replacement devices. It said the company did not acknowledge wrongdoing or liability.

A message seeking comment was left for the company but there was no immediate reply.

The case began as a lawsuit brought by two people and joined by the government as a whistleblower complaint. The people who bought the original lawsuit will receive $730,000 from the settlement amount.

Shares of St. Jude Medical rose 3 cents to $38.57 in late afternoon trading.

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