The pharmaceutical company allegedly committed the illegal kickback scheme in the first quarter of 2011 for certain Avonex patients and in the second and third quarters of 2012 and 2013 for certain Tysabri patients.
The $22 million settlement resolves Biogen’s alleged violation of the False Claims Act.
Biogen undermined Medicare’s co-pay structure
Acting Assistant Attorney Jeffrey Bossert Clark of the DOJ’s Civil Division said, “The resolution announced today, like prior settlements concerning similar misconduct, demonstrates the government’s commitment to hold accountable companies that pay kickbacks to undermine important constraints on rising drug costs. Drug companies that illegally manipulate charitable patient assistance programs to subsidize copays for their own products will be held accountable.”
On the other hand, First Assistant United States Attorney Nathaniel R. Mendell commented, “Biogen coordinated with ACS to game the foundation system by timing its payments to two foundations with its transfer of financially needy free drug patients, all so that Biogen could obtain significant financial rewards. By treating the foundations simply as conduits to pay the co-pays of its own patients, Biogen violated the anti-kickback statute and undermined Medicare’s co-pay structure, which Congress intended as a safeguard against inflated drug prices.”
