A Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) unit agreed to pay $360 million to resolve charges of illegally using a supposedly independent charity to pay kickbacks to Medicare patients as a way to cover their out-of-pocket costs.
The settlement comes more than two years after federal prosecutors issued a subpoena in connection with an investigation of payments that Actelion Pharmaceuticals, which J&J acquired last year, made to Caring Voice Coalition during 2014 and 2015. The charity provided financial assistance to patients who would not otherwise have been able to afford several medicines for combating high blood pressure in the lungs.
The scheme “not only violates the anti-kickback statute, it also undermines the Medicare program’s copay structure, which Congress created as a safeguard against inflated drug prices. During the period covered by today’s settlement, Actelion raised the price of (the) Tracleer (drug), by nearly 30 times the rate of overall inflation” in the U.S,” said Andrew Lelling, the U.S. Attorney in Boston, in a statement.
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