The U.S. Attorney’s Office District of Massachusetts filed a complaint against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. and Teva Neuroscience Inc., the maker of Copaxone, a drug for multiple sclerosis (MS). The government alleges that Teva conspired with a specialty pharmacy and two purportedly independent foundations to violate the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act by using the foundations as conduits to subsidize Medicare copays for Copaxone, all while steadily raising Copaxone’s price. The Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits pharmaceutical companies from offering or paying, directly or indirectly, any remuneration – which includes money or any other thing of value – to induce Medicare patients to purchase the companies’ drugs. Read a Department of Justice press release. Read a story from Reuters.
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