Friday, November 06, 2009

Abbott under kickback probe over Depakote sales -

Abbott Laboratories this morning confirmed the company's sales and marketing practices of Depakote, the widely used drug to treat bipolar disorder and epilepsy, are under federal investigation.

The U.S. Department of Justice, through the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Virginia, is handling the probe, the company said in a statement. "We are cooperating with the investigation," a company spokeswoman said.

Abbott said federal prosecutors are seeking to determine whether any of the company's sales and marketing practices "violated civil and/or criminal laws, including the Federal False Claims Act, the Food and Drug Cosmetic Act, and the Anti-Kickback Statute in connection with Medicare and/or Medicaid reimbursement to third parties"

Depakote sales were at one time more than $1 billion annually but have fallen lately in the face of competition from cheaper generic copies. Depakote sales in the U.S. were down 77 percent in the third quarter, to $66 million, compared to the year-ago period.

Federal investigations into pharmaceutical marketing, particularly as it relates to how brand name pills and capsules are marketed to physicians are common and have been on the rise over the last decade. Such probes have netted the federal government huge settlements as U.S. prosecutors work to curb illegal practices they say lead to higher health care costs when companies push more expensive brand-name drugs, often over cheaper generics entering the market or rival brands.

Earlier this year, Pfizer Inc. paid a record $2.3 billion settlement in a deal with federal and state prosecutors that covered the New York drug giant's marketing of four drugs, including Bextra, a painkiller, and Geodon, an anti-psychotic medication.

The Pfizer settlement bested an earlier marketing imbroglio involving TAP Pharmaceutical Products Inc. In 2001, the Chicago-area drugmaker resolved criminal and civil allegations brought by the Justice Department by agreeing to pay $885 million and pleading guilty to a criminal charge of conspiring with doctors to bill government insurers for free samples of the prostate cancer drug Lupron.

TAP, a joint venture of North Chicago-based Abbott Laboratories and Takeda Pharmaceuticals of Japan, since has been dissolved, with its products divvied up between its owners. Abbott sells Lupron.

bjapsen@tribune.com

Posted via web from Jack's posterous

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