PITTSBURGH — A Beaver County-based pharmacy chain and other parties have agreed to pay more than $2.6 million to settle allegations that employees intentionally mislabeled and reused old medications from nursing homes.

Med-Fast Pharmacy Inc., which is owned by Douglas Kaleugher of Cranberry Township, agreed to the payments as part of settlement agreements in two separate whistleblower lawsuits, federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh said Wednesday.

Those lawsuits claimed that Med-Fast violated the False Claims Act by distributing and submitting claims to Medicare and Pennsylvania Medicaid for medication that it had recycled from long-term care facilities, and also billed the services for more expensive, retail-packaged diabetes testing strips while actually supplying patients with cheaper, mail-order-packaged versions.

As part of the settlement, which comes days after a former pharmacy manager pleaded guilty on Friday to a fraud charge, Gino Cordisco, 47, of Mars, who is the company's former vice president of store operations, was also charged with one count of conspiracy.

That charge, prosecutors said, stems from Cordisco's alleged involvement in a scheme to fill prescriptions for nursing homes with recycled unused drugs, which were picked up by drivers employed by the pharmacy, repackaged, and sent back out to nursing homes with false lot numbers, expiration dates and manufacturer names.

The whistleblower claims prompted an investigation by the FDA, the DEA, the FBI and other federal organizations, prosecutors said.

As part of the whistleblower settlement Med-Fast admitted no liability in the case. Prosecutors say Cordisco faces a maximum sentence of 5 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 or both.