Pharma Giant Agrees to Half-Billion Dollar Settlement for Kickback Claims
The Connecticut Attorney General announced yesterday that the Office of the Inspector General and several states have settled with Novartis, the pharmaceutical giant, for criminal and civil claims that Novartis committed kickbacks and off-label marketing involving several of its drugs. According to the allegations by the government, Novartis had marketed the drug Trileptal, an anti-epileptic medication, beyond its FDA-approved uses to boost sales and paid physicians compensation for prescribing the drug.
Under the settlement terms, Novartis will pay the states and the federal government a total of $237.5 million in damages and penalties for losses to state and federal health care programs, and another $185 million to resolve criminal allegations.
Novartis must also enter into a five-year Corporate Integrity Agreement with the OIG, ensuring that OIG will be monitoring Novartis' every move going forward.
