PHM-Exch> US govt sues Novartis

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Gopal Dabade <drdabade at gmail.com>


http://m.indianexpress.com/news/us-govt-sues-novartis-for-health-care-fraud/1106948/

*US govt sues Novartis for health care fraud*

*PTI : New York | *Wed Apr 24 2013, 09:25 hr

The US government has sued Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp, claiming it gave
kickbacks to pharmacies to switch kidney transplant patients from
competitors' drugs to its own.

The civil health care fraud lawsuit in US District Court in Manhattan seeks
unspecified damages and civil penalties for a scheme that the government
said has been carried out since 2005.

US attorney Preet Bharara said that the company used the “lure of kickbacks
disguised as rebates” to turn 20 or more pharmacies into a sales force for
its drug, Myfortic.

He said the company's actions caused the public to pay tens of millions of
dollars for kickback-tainted drugs dispensed by pharmacists who had buddied
up to Novartis.

Bharara said Novartis is a repeat offender, having settled fraud charges
based on kickbacks less than three years ago. Novartis said in a statement
that it disputes the claims and will defend itself.

It said the investigation into the company's interactions with specialty
pharmacies related to the handling of Myfortic had been previously
disclosed.

“As a leading healthcare company, Novartis strives to achieve high
performance with high integrity. NPC is committed to high standards of
ethical business conduct and regulatory compliance in the sale and
marketing of our products,” the company said.

In its lawsuit, the government said Novartis had disguised kickbacks as
performance rebates and discounts to convince pharmacies to switch patients
to Myfortic from competitor's drugs and to oppose the use of a cheaper,
generic immunosuppressant drug.

The government said Novartis offered one pharmacist in Los Angeles a
“bonus” rebate amounting to several hundred thousand dollars to induce the
pharmacist to "shoulder the burden" of switching 700 to 1,000 transplant
patients to Myfortic.

According to the lawsuit, Novartis found it was highly profitable to pay
pharmacies even 10 percent to 20 percent kickbacks in exchange for
switching transplant patients. The government said the arrangement violated
the federal anti-kickback statute prohibiting the offer or payment of
rebates and other inducements to cause the purchase of any drug or service
covered by Medicare, Medicaid or other healthcare program.



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