Justice Department Alleges Teva Pharmaceutical's U.S. Business Violated Anti-Kickback Law
August 18 2020 - 1:39PM
Dow Jones News
By Micah Maidenberg
Prosecutors accused Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.'s
business for the U.S. and a subsidiary of violating an
anti-kickback law by providing foundations with funds to cover the
cost of patients' Medicare co-pays for a multiple sclerosis drug
whose price it had raised.
Teva's U.S. unit and the subsidiary used the foundations as
conduits, intending for the $300 million it provided the
organizations between 2006 and 2015 to cover the co-pays required
under Medicare for Copaxone, used to treat multiple sclerosis.
American depository receipts for Teva Pharmaceutical Industries,
based in Israel, were down 10% in trading in New York.
From late in 2006 until 2015, the Teva U.S. business and
subsidiary raised the price of Copaxone from about $17,000 a year
to $73,000 a year, according to the suit.
"Teva intended the payments to ensure that Copaxone patients
never faced the steep prices that Teva charged for its drug, thus
inducing the patients, including Medicare patients, to purchase the
drug," federal prosecutors say in the suit, which was filed in the
U.S. District Court for Massachusetts.
Teva denied the claims in the suit and said it would defend
itself against the allegations.
"This case brought by the Department of Justice regarding these
charitable contributions only seeks to further restrict patients'
access to important medicines and healthcare," a spokeswoman Teva
Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. and Teva Neuroscience Inc., the defendants
in the suit, said in a statement.
The company's legacy charity program for multiple sclerosis
assistance was meant to "support patients who needed important
treatment options by appropriately providing charitable
contributions to independent charitable foundations that helped
patients obtain access to medicines," the spokeswoman said.
The Justice Department has probed other drugmakers for the
relationship with foundations that help patients with copays.
Write to Micah Maidenberg at micah.maidenberg@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
August 18, 2020 13:24 ET (17:24 GMT)
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