§ 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.