"Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd. (NYSE: TEVA; TASE: TEVA) used illegal means to market Copaxone and Azilect, its ethical drugs. These means included forbidden payments to doctors for lectures and consultation," a civil suit filed against the Israel company in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York alleged. "Teva's illegal plan was, and still is, extensive and orchestrated by the highest levels in the company," the lawsuit stated.
The statement of claim continued, "In view of the approaching expiry of the patents protecting Copaxone and Azilect, Teva has taken aggressive action to increase the drugs' market share by paying doctors to distribute prescriptions for the drugs."
The statement of claim alleges that Teva is paying doctors $1,500-2,700 for each speaker program, and the number of such programs increased rapidly in 2011-2013. "In 2013, certain doctors lectured an alarming number of times - 42-80 times," the lawsuit stated.
In 2012 alone, Teva paid doctors over $10 million for "lectures," and the number grew in 2013-2014. The statement of claim alleges that speakers at these lectures accounted for 80% of the Azilect prescriptions.
One of the detailed examples in the statement of claim concerns a Connecticut doctor who issued many prescriptions for Azilect. Teva paid him $2,500 to speak on the subject of Parkinson's Disease at a restaurant in Indiana, but there was no presentation or other formal materials at the lecture and no one in the audience other than Teva representatives.
Under the law, it is forbidden to offer or pay doctors cash or other remuneration for a referral to products (including issuing prescriptions) for which they receive payment from the government health authorities (including insurance plans like Medicare).
"Teva not only rewarded the doctors who played the game and issued prescriptions, it also fined those who issue too few prescriptions by refusing to pay them in the framework of the speakers program," the statement of claim alleges. "To this day (the statement of claim was filed in March 2015, S.H.V.), Teva continues to pay doctors."
The plaintiffs, including a number of US states, are demanding that Teva pay compensation for damages, civil fines, and legal costs.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 9, 2015
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