A preliminary approval was granted on May 22 in which the drugmaker agreed to pay up to $24 million to consumers who were overcharged for the Zoladex cancer med, according to the Prescription Access Litigation Project, an advocacy group that filed suit against 28 drugmakers over AWP, or average wholesale pricing.

The settlement with AstraZeneca was reached just as a trial was to begin this week in federal court in Boston. This is the second time that a drugmaker has settled an AWP lawsuit. Last summer, Glaxo agreed to pay $70 million to resolve charges brought by consumers and health plans. This latest deal, however, only applies to consumers who were overcharged for their insurance co-payments. AstraZeneca is still immersed in similar litigation with third-party payors that allege they also overpaid for Zoladex.

The lawsuits allege that drugmakers deliberately marked up the published AWP of numerous meds. Docs and pharmacies paid a discounted price, and were then reimbursed by state Medicaid and federal Medicare plans at the higher AWP. But discounts weren’t passed along, which meant that consumers and health plans were deliberately overcharged.

“Hopefully, this will pave the way for more consumer settlements,” says Steve Berman, co-lead plaintiffs’ counsel in the litigation. “They settled for what we believe is 62 percent of damages, which is a very high percentage and, to me, that indicates they felt there was a strong chance they were going to get nailed.”