Being a lawyer today can be tough, especially for those of us in the Class Action realm trying to redress practices that inflate the price of drugs. I could recite chapter and verse how the Bush administration has worked to try and rob consumers of their ability to seek justice through class litigation but it would only bore you, the reader, and get me all worked up, so I will defer.

But, today is one of those days in which it is all worth it. Today we concluded a case that is a big win for consumers and third-party payers. More importantly, though, we settled a case that had private attorneys not joined the battle, consumers and third-party payers would still be getting the short end of the gavel, if you will.

Today we announced the largest settlement of its kind - a $350 million settlement in a case we filed against healthcare giant McKesson in which we alleged the company secretly and intentionally spiked the wholesale costs of the vast majority of prescription drugs, robbing consumers of millions of dollars.

You can read more about the case at our site, or check out a few other articles that have hit the streets today.

Why didn't the FTC, U.S. Justice Department or any of the other oversight organizations take this case on? One could argue that they are overburdened; there are too many issues and too few investigators. One could also argue that the current, lame-duck administration was reluctant to dig too deeply in issues that could affect Big Pharma. Take your pick.

What I do know is that if it were not for a dedicated group of clients and attorneys here at HBSS, along with our team of co-counsel, these sorts of deals would still be happening, and consumers would still be paying the price.

Of course, McKesson claims they did nothing wrong, and they settled because of the "uncertainty" with the case. We also heard that from the other defendants that settled as well. Sure, let them say they are blameless. That's fine by us, as long as they agree to make good to those we think they bilked.

At HBSS, monitoring and pursuing action within the pharmaceutical industry is a large part of our practice. Whether it is going after Bayer for misleading consumers through marketing campaigns for combination drugs, or McKesson for artificially raising prices, we argue the role of private litigation is instrumental for change.