By Maria Armental
Inspire Pharmaceuticals Inc. has agreed to pay $5.9 million and
admit to making misleading marketing claims of its drug AzaSite to
settle federal fraud claims, the Justice Department said
Wednesday.
Under the settlement, which was approved Monday in Manhattan
U.S. District Court, company officials admitted to trying to
increase sales by marketing the drug for treatments that hadn't
been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. As a result of
the company's misleading marketing, the authorities said, federal
health care programs paid millions of dollars in false claims from
2008 through May 2011.
The drug had only been approved to treat bacterial
conjunctivitis, more commonly known as pinkeye.
The case was initially filed as a whistleblower claim in
2010.
Akorn Inc. bought Inspire Pharmaceuticals from Merck & Co.
in 2013.
Write to Maria Armental at maria.armental@wsj.com
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