Wed Dec 19, 2012 7:05pm EST
(Reuters) – French drugmaker Sanofi has concluded to compensate $109 million to settle charges that it disregarded a False Claims Act by providing giveaway drugs as a form of kickbacks to physicians, a U.S. Justice Department announced on Wednesday.
The allotment resolves allegations that Sanofi submitted fake normal sales cost reports for a drug Hyalgan, a knee injection to yield arthritis, that did not comment for giveaway units distributed fortuitous on destiny purchases.
Average sales prices are used to establish remuneration rates by supervision health programs, such as Medicare. The Justice Dept pronounced a use caused supervision programs to compensate arrogant amounts for Hyalgan and a competing product.
Sanofi sales member were given thousands of giveaway “sample” Hyalgan syringes and used a giveaway drug as kickbacks with a guarantee to yield negotiated numbers of a syringes in sequence to reduce Hyalgan’s effective price, a supervision claimed.
The drugmaker pronounced it had taken “strong, active and effective steps” to residence a emanate and willingly halted a Hyalgan sampling module in 2009.
The allotment with a U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of Massachusetts, a U.S. Department of Justice and several states resolves all claims outset out of a review into sampling of Hyalgan, Sanofi said.
In further to a $109 million payment, Sanofi pronounced it expects to enter into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with a Office of a Inspector General of a United States Department of Health and Human Services that will place a operations underneath extended scrutiny.
There are no rapist charges opposite a association associated to a Hyalgan allegations.
(Reporting by Bill Berkrot; Editing by M.D. Golan)