N.Y. Insurance Law § 111: Investigation by the superintendent with respect to prescription drugs

§ 111. Investigation by the superintendent with respect to

prescription drugs. (a) Whenever it shall appear to the superintendent,

either upon complaint or otherwise, that in the advertisement, purchase

or sale within this state of any prescription drug, which is

contemplated to be paid by a policy approved by the department for

offering within the state, has increased over the course of any twelve

months by more than fifty percent to an amount greater than five dollars

per unit and if it is suspected that any person, partnership,

corporation, company, trust or association, or any agent or employee

thereof, shall have employed, or employs, or is about to employ any

device, scheme or artifice to defraud or for obtaining money or property

by means of any false pretense, representation or promise, or that any

person, partnership, corporation, company, trust or association, or any

agent or employee thereof, shall have made, makes or attempts to make

within or from this state or shall have engaged in or engages in or is

about to engage in any practice or transaction or course of business

relating to the purchase, exchange, or sale of prescription drugs which

is fraudulent or in violation of law and which has operated or which

would operate as a fraud upon the purchaser, or that any agent or

employee thereof, has sold or offered for sale or is attempting to sell

or is offering for sale any prescription drug for which the price has

increased fifty percent over the prior calendar year to an amount

greater than five dollars per unit, and the superintendent believes it

to be in the public interest that an investigation be made, he or she

may in their sole discretion either require or permit such person,

partnership, corporation, company, trust or association, or any agent or

employee thereof, to file with the department a statement in writing

under oath or otherwise as to all the facts and circumstances concerning

the price increase which he or she believes it to be in the public

interest to investigate, and for that purpose may prescribe forms upon

which such statements shall be made. The superintendent may also require

such other data and information as he or she may deem relevant and may

make such special and independent investigations as he or she may deem

necessary in connection with the matter.

(b) In addition to any other power granted by law, the superintendent,

his or her deputy or other officer designated by the superintendent is

empowered to subpoena witnesses, compel their attendance, examine them

under oath and require the production of any books or papers which he or

she deems relevant or material to the inquiry. Such power of subpoena

shall be enforced as though the subpoena were issued under section three

hundred six of the financial services law.

(c) If any person, partnership, corporation, company, trust or

association, fails to submit a written statement required by the

superintendent under subsection (a) of this section or fails to comply

with a subpoena issued pursuant to subsection (b) of this section, the

superintendent may, after notice and a hearing, levy a civil penalty not

to exceed to one thousand dollars per day that the failure continues.

(d) Notwithstanding any law to the contrary, any information obtained

in an investigation under this section shall be confidential and shall

not be subject to disclosure by the department except to the drug

accountability board, which may review the information and, as

necessary, include any such information in its report. The

superintendent may also disclose any such information necessary to

protect the public, but such disclosures shall to the greatest extent

possible not identify a specific manufacturer or prices charged for

drugs by such manufacturer.