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U.S. sues Novartis over kickbacks, second case this week
(Reuters) – The U.S. government on Friday announced its second civil fraud lawsuit against Novartis AG in four days, accusing a unit of the Swiss drugmaker of paying multimillion-dollar kickbacks to doctors in exchange for prescribing its drugs.
Authorities said the Basel-based company for a decade lavished healthy speaking fees and “opulent” meals, including a nearly $10,000 dinner for three at the Japanese restaurant, Nobu, to induce doctors to prescribe its drugs.
They said this led to the Medicare and Medicaid programs paying millions of dollars in reimbursements based on kickback-tainted claims for medication such as hypertension drugs Lotrel and Valturna and the diabetes drug Starlix.
The charges are detailed in a whistleblower lawsuit first filed against Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp by a former sales representative in January 2011 and which the U.S. government has now joined.
Learn more:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/2…6120130426
2013-04-26 18:45:12
Source: http://yeoldefalseflag.com/thread-u-s-sues-novartis-over-kickbacks-second-case-this-week
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