In the largest settlement of its kind, Teva Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay $425 million to resolve allegations the company and a related business paid kickbacks to charitable foundations in order to boost usage of a pricey medicine. Separately, the drugmaker agreed to pay $25 million to settle charges of participating in a price-fixing scheme with other generic companies.
The kickback case began four years ago when the Department of Justice accused Teva of using the foundations to ensure that, from 2006 through 2017, Medicare patients did not have to make a copayment or deductible for the Copaxone multiple sclerosis drug. At the same time, Teva steadily raised the price of its drug by thousands of dollars.
The authorities maintained that, in doing so, Teva violated a federal law known as the Anti-Kickback Statute, which prohibits pharmaceutical companies from offering or paying, directly or indirectly, any remuneration — which includes money or anything else of value — to induce Medicare or other federal programs to purchase their drugs.
