The suit, filed in Federal district court in Massachusetts, alleges that Amgen and two subsidiaries of Amerisource Bergen Corp., International Nephrology Network and ASD Healthcare, set up two schemes to unethically boost flagging sales of Aranesp, which is one of Amgen's top-selling drugs. The first encouraged physicians to bill Medicaid and other third party payers for Aranesp that the companies provided at no cost to the physicians and falsely certify to Medicaid that they were in compliance with federal and state anti-bribery laws. The second funneled money back to doctors who purchased and prescribed Aranesp via sham consultancy agreements, weekend retreats, and other gifts.
Aranesp was approved in 2001 to treat anemia associated with chronic kidney failure; in 2003, it was also approved to treat chemotherapy-induced anemia in certain cancer patients. Since a 2006 report linked high doses of the drug to increased rates of heart attacks and death in kidney patients, sales of Aranesp have fallen 25 percent, from $4.1 billion to $3.1 billion, and the drug has slipped from the top spot to third place among Amgen's best sellers.
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced the lawsuit in a statement issued today. "Drugs should be prescribed to patients on the basis of need, effectiveness, and safety, not on a corporate giant’s promise of an all-expense paid vacation," said Cuomo in the statement. "In an egregious violation of the law, Amgen allegedly bribed medical providers and left taxpayers footing the bill for free drug samples." The multistate suit joins an earlier whistleblower suit filed on the same grounds in 2006.
In addition to New York and the District of Columbia, the states of California, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire and Tennessee and the commonwealths of Massachusetts and Virginia have joined in the suit.
Amgen, headquartered in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and Chesterbrook, Pa.-based Amerisource Bergen have both denied the allegations and vowed to vigorously defend themselves in court.
Written by Sandy Smith
Posted October 30th, 2009 by Sandy Smith
