Personal Injury Law

Drug Company Pleads Guilty to Bribing Doctors to Prescribe

By Greg Jones

A subsidiary of Biovail Corp. has pled guilty to bribing doctors to prescribe Cardizem, a blood pressure drug, after a plea agreement to pay $24.6 million in criminal and civil fines arising from conspiracy and kickback charges brought by the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday, and was sentenced to pay a $22,243,590 criminal fine. Because some of the prescriptions were paid for by Medicaid, Biovail has agreed to pay an additional $2,404,286 plus interest in civil fines to resolve allegations that its conduct caused the submission of false claims to the United States.

Through a marketing effort called 'proving LA through clinical experience,' or PLACE, Biovail paid thousands of doctors and other medical professionals as much as $1,000 apiece to prescribe or recommend Cardizem.

This shows how each person should be an advocate for their own health as large pharmaceutical companies continue to put profits over people.

Full post as published by Charlotte Personal Injury Lawyer on September 16, 2009 (boomark / email).