Attorney General Andrew Cuomo announced that New York and 14 other states are filing a lawsuit against Amgen Inc. (AMGN) alleging kickbacks to medical providers to increase sales of Anemia Drug Aranesp.
The states involved in the complaint are: California, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Louisiana, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Michigan, Nevada, New Hampshire, New York, Tennessee, and the Commonwealth of Virginia.
The multi-state complaint charge Amgen, International Nephrology Network, a specialty group purchasing organization, and AmerisourceBergen Corp.'s (ABC) drug wholesaler ASD Healthcare, with offering kickbacks to medical providers to increase sales of Aranesp.
The company alleges that the companies encouraged medical providers to bill third party payers such as Medicaid for free samples that were provided at no cost, and also for offering medical providers with illegal kickbacks, such as sham consultancy agreements, weekend retreats, or other services, to induce them to purchase and prescribe Aranesp.
Attorney General Cuomo, stated, "In an egregious violation of the law, Amgen allegedly bribed medical providers and left taxpayers footing the bill for free drug samples,"
It is to be noted that this 15-state action joins a whistleblower suit filed in the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts in 2006. The United States Department of Justice also continues to investigate these allegations.
Aranesp is an erythropoiesis-stimulating agent and injectable drug product used to stimulate, boost the production of red blood cells in the body. It was approved by the FDA in 2001 to treat anemia associated with chronic renal failure and in 2002 to treat chemotherapy-induced anemia in certain types of cancer patients.
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