After long-running litigation, Allergan agreed to pay $13 million to the federal government and 19 states to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit alleging the drug maker engaged in a kickback scheme to boost prescriptions of a best-selling eye medicine.
The lawsuit was filed in 2009 by two ophthalmologists, who alleged the company offered various business services — such as financial analysis, human resources training, and billing advice — to eye doctors and optometrists who prescribed Allergan medicines. Notably, this included the Restasis dry eye treatment. Most of the services were provided for free, the lawsuit stated.
The eye doctors who filed the lawsuit, which the U.S. Department of Justice tracked but declined to join, alleged these assorted maneuvers prompted large increases in prescriptions for Allergan medicines violated anti-kickback laws. And as a result, the company caused federal health care programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, to be defrauded.
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