Attorney General[1] James Uthmeier announced Wednesday that a multimillion-dollar settlement has been reached with a pharmaceutical company accused of paying kickbacks to health providers involved with a drug used to treat HIV and AIDS patients.
The company, Gilead Sciences Inc.[2], was sued by Florida and several other states for allegedly requiring health care providers to promote its drugs in exchange for compensation. The HIV drugs included Stribild, Genvoya, Complera, Odefsey, Descovy and Biktarvy.
The lawsuit claimed Gilead Science was providing payments, meals and travel expenses to the health care practitioners who promoted the drugs and spoke at events organized by Gilead between 2011 and 2017.
“Big Pharma corporations that put profits ahead of patients by unlawfully promoting drugs will be held accountable,” said Uthmeier in a news release[3]. “Florida’s Medicaid Fraud Control Unit works tirelessly to protect vulnerable patients and the taxpayer dollars that fund these systems.”
Uthmeier went on to say that, as part of the legal settlement, Gilead acknowledged its conduct and the allegations were found to be factual. The legal settlement requires Gilead to pay about $3.03 million to the Florida Medicaid program, according to the press release issued by Uthmeier’s office on Wednesday.
It was that Medicaid Fraud Control Unit that launched the investigation into the claims. The unit concluded that the company engaged in unlawful actions by making false claims that were submitted and paid for by Florida’s Medicaid program.
Other states also filed similar litigation against the company. Most notably, the New York U.S. Attorney’s Office leveled a lawsuit against Gilead Sciences. That state’s case was settled in April,[4] and a court order required Gilead Sciences to pay New York $202 million as part of the resolution to that lawsuit.
“For years, Gilead unlawfully sought to increase sales of its HIV drugs by using its speaker programs to funnel kickbacks to doctors. As alleged, Gilead spent tens of millions of dollars on these programs, including over $20 million in speaking fees and millions more in exorbitant meals, alcohol and travel, all in an effort to induce doctors to prescribe Gilead’s HIV drugs and drive up sales,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton in regards to the New York case. “With this settlement, Gilead has taken responsibility for its conduct and agreed to pay a significant financial penalty. The message is clear: Companies that illegally drain taxpayer dollars from federal health care programs will be held accountable.”
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References
- ^ Attorney General (www.myfloridalegal.com)
- ^ Gilead Sciences Inc. (www.gilead.com)
- ^ news release (www.myfloridalegal.com)
- ^ in April, (www.justice.gov)