Amgen Hit With Suit Alleging Kickbacks Over Anemia Drug

[WSJ Law Blog]

We were quietly hoping we’d be able to return either to the topics of the pharmaceutical industry or kickbacks. With this latest news about Amgen (LAT, AP), we can do both in one post.

The news is this: 14 states and the District of Columbia have sued Amgen and others over an alleged kickback scheme designed to boost sales of its anemia drug Aranesp.

New York AG Andrew Cuomo, in a statement, said the suit, filed in Boston federal court (complaint not yet available) alleges that Amgen, AmerisourceBergen Corp. and AmerisourceBergen’s drug wholesaler, ASD Healthcare, and specialty group purchasing unit International Nephrology Network encouraged doctors to bill third-party payers, such as Medicaid, for free samples of Aranesp.

Cuomo said the lawsuit also alleges that Amgen conspired with INN and ASD Healthcare to offer improper kickbacks to medical providers - such as sham consultancy agreements, weekend retreats or other services - to induce them to purchase and prescribe Aranesp.

“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,” Cuomo said. “In an egregious violation of the law, Amgen allegedly bribed medical providers and left taxpayers footing the bill for free drug samples.”

In a statement, David Polk, an Amgen spokesman, said, “We believe that the allegations are without merit, and we look forward to the opportunity to examine these matters with the states before the court.”

Also in a statement, Michael Kilpatric, an AmerisourceBergen spokesman, said, “We’ve had no contact in this case with anyone in the N.Y. AG’s office or any other state attorneys general offices and we expect to defend ourselves vigorously.”