The Justice Department will announce a $515 million fraud settlement with a major U.S. pharmaceutical company later on Friday, a spokeswoman for the department said.

Michael Sullivan, the U.S. Attorney in Boston, will hold a news conference at 1 p.m. EDT (1700 GMT) to detail the settlement.

The deal involves drug pricing and Medicaid, the joint state-federal health insurance plan for the needy, according to Justice Department spokeswoman Christina DiIorio-Sterling.

In December 2006, Sullivan's office reached a tentative $499 million pact with Bristol-Myers Squibb to settle a probe into pricing, sales and marketing practices.

A Bristol spokeswoman did not have a comment.