Teva Pharmaceuticals to Pay $425M to Resolve Kickback Allegations

The complaint alleged that between 2006- 2017, Teva manipulated the co-pay foundation assistance system by conspiring with multiple third parties to direct its supposed charitable payments specifically to patients taking its own multiple sclerosis drug.

Kristen Kazarian, Managing Editor

October 11, 2024

2 Min Read
The government has collected more than $1.4B from this enforcement initiative.
Since 2017, the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts has collected more than $1.4 billion from this enforcement initiative. alfexe/iStock/Getty Images Plus via Getty Images

Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc. and Teva Neuroscience Inc. (collectively Teva) have agreed to pay $425 million to resolve allegations that Teva paid kickbacks via two co-pay assistance foundations in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) and False Claims Act, according to the US Attorney's Office, District of Massachusetts.

The government’s complaint, filed in 2020, alleged that from 2006 to 2017, Teva manipulated the co-pay foundation assistance system by conspiring with multiple third parties, including a specialty pharmacy and two allegedly independent co-pay assistance foundations, to direct its supposed charitable payments specifically to patients taking its own multiple sclerosis drug, Copaxone. At the same time, Teva steadily raised Copaxone’s price by thousands of dollars. The US alleges that this conduct violated the AKS and caused the submission of false claims to Medicare. The settlement was reached after the government’s review of Teva’s financial disclosures concerning its financial condition.

“Pharmaceutical companies that disguise kickbacks as charitable donations to subsidize co-pays for their own drugs undermine a critical safeguard against the excessive inflation of drug prices.  The costs of these schemes are ultimately passed on to consumers and taxpayers,” said Roberto Coviello, Special Agent in Charge of the US Department of Health and Human Services, Office of Inspector General. “Such conduct cannot be tolerated within our health care system, and we will continue to vigorously pursue such allegations.”

This settlement is the latest in a string of enforcement actions against pharmaceutical companies that allegedly used third-party foundations as conduits to pay kickbacks. Since 2017, the US Attorney’s Office in Massachusetts has collected more than $1.4 billion from this initiative. The Office has also settled with four of the third-party foundations that participated in this conduct and a specialty pharmacy. The resolution with Teva is the largest co-pay assistance settlement to date.

In February 2024, Sentynl Therapeutics Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company out of Solana Beach, CA, agreed to pay $750,000 to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by causing the submission of claims for certain opioids. The settlement resolves allegations that, during the relevant time period, Sentynl knowingly caused the submission of claims for Abstral and Levorphanol medications to Medicare in violation of the federal Anti-Kickback Statute. These allegedly false claims resulted from Sentynl’s alleged indirect payment of kickbacks to a physician.

About the Author

Kristen Kazarian

Managing Editor

Kristen Kazarian has been a writer and editor for more than three decades. She has worked at several consumer magazines and B2B publications in the fields of food and beverage, packaging, processing, women's interest, local news, health and nutrition, fashion and beauty, automotive, and IT.

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