Posts Tagged ‘patient-assistance charity’
Pharma Company Pays $12.6M to Settle Charity Kickback Allegations
Another pharmaceutical company has agreed to a multimillion-dollar settlement to resolve allegations that it used a charity as a conduit to pay the copays of patients taking one of its drugs. Federal prosecutors alleged that Incyte Corporation of Delaware was the sole donor to an independent foundation set up in November 2011 to assist patients…
Read MoreLawmakers Want Increased Oversight of Patient Assistance Charities
Government cracking down on drug company ties to charities
Actelion Pharmaceuticals, a San Francisco-based biopharmaceutical company, recently agreed to pay $360 million to resolve allegations it provided kickbacks to a charitable organization through contributions it made, and that the charity turned around and used those contributions to pay the copays of patients using Actelion’s drugs. Drug makers are not permitted to make Medicare patient…
Read MoreAppeals Court Issues Precedential Ruling in Charitable Assistance Organization Kickback Case
The increase in enforcement activity related to donations made by pharmaceutical manufacturers to nonprofit patient charitable assistance organizations has resulted in a number of whistleblower or Qui Tam lawsuits. Those lawsuits have hinged on the idea that such donations may be viewed as illegal kickbacks because they could be seen as a means to steer…
Read MoreOIG Revokes Advisory Opinion on Patient-assistance Charity
In what is being called a first-of-its-kind move, the Office of Inspector General for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services late last month revoked an advisory opinion it issued, and later modified, relating to a patient-assistance charity. In its opinion, the OIG said it made its determination to revoke its original opinion “based…
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