A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Amgen Inc who is accused of paying kickbacks to long-term care pharmacy providers.
Filed in June 2011, the whistleblower lawsuit claims that Amgen Inc paid kickbacks to Omnicare in return for implementing “therapeutic interchange” programs that were designed to switch Medicaid beneficiaries from a competitor drug to Amgen’s product Aranesp. The complaint further alleged that the kickbacks took the form of performance-based rebates on Aranesp. As part of that program, the Government alleged that Amgen distributed materials designed to recommend Aranesp’s use in patients who did not have “anemia associated with chronic renal failure,” as specified in the approved labeling for Aranesp.
