Bristol-Myers Squibb to pay more than $515 million to resolve allegations of illegal drug marketing & pricing
Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (BMS) and its wholly owned subsidiary, Apothecon, Inc., have agreed to pay over $515 mln to resolve a broad array of civil allegations involving their drug marketing and pricing practices, US Attorney Michael J. Sullivan said.
The settlement was announced by Asst Attorney General for the Civil Div and Acting Attorney General Peter D. Keisler, US Attorney (District of Mass) Michael J. Sullivan, and US Attorney (S District of FL) R. Alexander Acosta.
"The integrity of our health care system rests on physicians being able to make decisions based on the best interests of their patients," said Keisler. "This settlement reflects the Justice Dept's strong commitment to holding drug companies accountable for devising and implementing fraudulent marketing and pricing schemes that undermine that decision-making process at the expense of federal health care programs for the poor and the elderly."
Sullivan added, "Patients are entitled to unbiased decision-making from their physician,s and should not have to worry that financial inducements or lavish entertainment have influenced their physicians' prescribing choices. Kickbacks are especially nefarious when they are used as part of a marketing effort to convince physicians to prescribe drugs for uses that the FDA has not determined to be safe and effective."
Accordingly, "The government alleges that Bristol-Myers Squibb, among other wrongdoing, fraudulently inflated the cost of a drug used primarily to reduce the side effects of cancer treatments and other generic drugs without regard to the increased costs borne by government health care programs or elderly and indigent patients," said US Attorney R. Alexander Acosta (S District of FL). "Corporations cannot continue to mislead the government into paying vastly exaggerated prices by exploiting a health care system based on trust and fair play."
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