Teva allegedly used charitable foundations to funnel illegal kickbacks to Medicare patients

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Source: Wikipedia

Teva Pharmaceuticals (NYSE: TEVA) is facing another legal challenge, less than a year after reaching a global settlement to resolve all claims related to its role in the opioid epidemic across the United States.

On Tuesday, U.S. Attorney for the District of Massachusetts Andrew Lelling filed a civil complaint against Teva Pharmaceuticals USA and Teva Neuroscience (collectively Teva) for allegedly violating the False Claims Act.

In the lawsuit, U.S. Attorney Lelling alleged that Teva caused the submission of false claims to Medicare due to the kickbacks it paid in the form of unlawful co-pay subsidies for patients using Copaxone, its drug for multiple sclerosis (MS).

The pharmaceutical company allegedly used two charitable foundations to illegally pay Medicare patients’ co-pays for Copazone while steadily increasing the price of the drug.

Teva allegedly “knowingly and willfully violated the anti-kickback statute”

Teva allegedly paid more than $300 million in illegal kickbacks to Chronic Disease Fund (CDF) and The Assistance Fund (TAF) to cover the Copazone co-pays for Medicare patients from 2006 to 2015.