The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts logged another victory in its battle against co-pay foundation kickback schemes. This time pharma giant Gilead Sciences is paying up to the tune of $97 million. The government alleged that Gilead illegally used a non-profit foundation as a conduit to pay the Medicare co-pays for its own drug.
We have previously detailed why this is illegal. We have also reported on two ongoing cases against Regeneron and Teva Pharmaceuticals.
As reported in the government’s press release:
To date, the Department of Justice has collected over $1 billion from eleven pharmaceutical companies (United Therapeutics, Pfizer, Actelion, Jazz, Lundbeck, Alexion, Astellas, Amgen, Sanofi, Novartis, and Gilead) that allegedly used third-party foundations as kickback vehicles. The Department also has reached settlements with four foundations (Patient Access Network Foundation, Chronic Disease Fund, The Assistance Fund, and Patient Services, Inc.) and a pharmacy (Advanced Care Scripts, Inc.) that allegedly conspired or coordinated with pharmaceutical companies on these kickback schemes.
The government has been resolute in its commitment to rooting out this type of fraud and will no doubt continue to pursue such actions in and out of court.
