US pharma, doctors "kickbacks" warning

Health fraud investigators at the US Department of Justice will befocusing on interactions between pharmaceutical companies and doctors in an attempt to hold down fraud, warns James Sheehan, an assistant US attorney in Philadelphia, reports Bloomberg News.

Being targeted are inflated drug prices, handing out free samples in hopes of increasing market share and offering large discounts on drug prices, he told health care compliance officers at a meeting in Washington, adding that the last two practices could be termed "kickbacks."

He noted Bayer AG's agreement to pay $14 million to the USA and 45 states to settle claims that it cheated Medicaid (Marketletter January 29) as an indication that the Department is serious about its investigations. Improper inducements to prescribe, such as that alleged for the prostate cancer drug Lupron(leuprolide acetate), marketed by the Takeda/Abbott Labs joint venture TAP Pharmaceutical Products (Marketletter July 31, 2000), are also likely to become more common, he said.