A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against AstraZeneca LP who is accused of engaging in a kickback scheme in violation of the False Claims Act.
The lawsuit was filed by former AstraZeneca employees who will collectively receive $1,422,000 as their share of the government's recovery.
The whistleblower case, filed in October 2010, alleged that AstraZeneca agreed to provide remuneration to Medco Health Solutions, a pharmacy benefit manager, in exchange for Medco maintaining Nexium’s “sole and exclusive” status on certain Medco formularies and through other marketing activities related to those Medco formularies. The government further alleged that AstraZeneca provided some or all of the remuneration to Medco through price concessions on drugs other than Nexium, namely on Prilosec, Toprol XL and Plendil. The complaint contended that this kickback arrangement between AstraZeneca and Medco violated the Federal Anti-Kickback statute, and thereby caused the submission of false or fraudulent claims for Nexium to the Retiree Drug Subsidy Program.