Actelion Is Third Company To Settle Charity Co-Pay Kickback Claims With DOJ

 
• By Brenda Sandburg

Company agrees to pay $360m to resolve allegations it used a charity as a conduit to pay Medicare patient copays for its drugs; several other companies are under investigation.

Washington DC, USA-June 5, 2018: Robert F Kennedy Department of Justice building entrance "The Place of Justice is a Hallowed Place" engraved in stone above the door

The US Department of Justice's investigation of pharma ties to charitable groups is reaping results. Actelion Pharmaceuticals Ltd. reached an agreement with the DOJ to pay $360m to resolve allegations it used a charity as a conduit to pay the copays of Medicare patients to induce them to purchase its drugs. It is the third DOJ settlement involving such kickback claims.

The settlement agreement, announced by the US Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts on Dec. 6, alleges that Actelion made donations to Caring Voice Coalition, which operated a fund to pay copays of certain patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH)

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