More Medicare fraud: Lawsuit alleging kickbacks by J&J goes to federal court

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http://www.nephronline.com/articleprint.asp?print=1&IndexID=221
Lawsuit alleging kickbacks by J&J goes to federal court

Nephrology News & Isues
Volume , Issue  - 9/2009

by: Mark E. Neumann

A federal appeals court has agreed to hear a multibillion  dollar Medicare fraud case brought by whistle blowers alleging Johnson & Johnson paid doctors kickbacks to prescribe its anemia drug Procrit in a strategy to boost sales.

Two former salespeople have claimed that J&J's Ortho Biotech Products unit, which sells Procrit, gave doctors kickbacks to write prescriptions for the drug during the 1990s.

Johnson & Johnson sells Procrit as part of a marketing agreement with Amgen Inc. to treat anemia in patients not on dialysis. The drug is identical to Amgen's Epogen.

Jan Schlichtmann, attorney for the ex-salesmen, said in an interview with The Associated Press on Aug. 13 that Ortho Biotech gave oncologists and other doctors free Procrit, honoraria, speaking fees, extra discounts, and other monetary inducements in an effort to increase drug sales, particularly after the drug faced competition from rival Amgen Inc.'s Aranesp.

"Everybody got these discounts. It wasn't an exception. This was how this drug was marketed and sold," Schlichtmann told The AP.

Johnson & Johnson spokesman Bill Foster told The AP that an appeals court dismissed one of the two main claims in the suit, and that the company would "vigorously defend" itself against the remaining allegations.