Friday, October 30, 2009

Amgen - Aranesp: allegedly rewarding medical providers with kickbacks

The New York Attorney General’s office announced Friday that New York and 14 other states will sue biotech giant Amgen for allegedly rewarding medical providers with kickbacks if they helped to boost sales of anemia drug Aranesp.

“Drugs should be prescribed to patients on the basis of need, effectiveness, and safety, not on a corporate giant’s promise of an all-expense paid vacation,” said Attorney General Cuomo in a statement.

The lawsuit alleges that starting in 2002, Amgen bribed medical providers with free Aranesp to motivate them to prescribe and purchase the drug. The suit claims the company then encouraged medical providers to submit false claims to Medicaid and other third parties for payment, when the drug was already available free to those same providers.

In 2003, the company conspired with the International Nephrology Network and its parent, ASD Healthcare, to lure customers from competing anemia drug Procrit, to Aranesp in an effort to boost sales, according to the lawsuit.

In addition to New York, other states participating in the suit include: California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee, and Virginia, and the District of Columbia.

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