AmerisourceBergen Corporation Illegally Repackaged Cancer
AmerisourceBergen Corporation Agrees to Pay $625 Million to Resolve Allegations That it Illegally Repackaged Cancer–Supportive Injectable Drugs to Profit From Overfill
The Department of Justice announced today that AmerisourceBergen Corporation and its subsidiaries AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group (ABSG), AmerisourceBergen Drug Corporation (ABDC), Oncology Supply Company (OSC), and Medical Initiatives Inc. (MII) (collectively, “ABC”) have agreed to pay $625 million to resolve allegations arising from its operation of a facility that improperly repackaged oncology-supportive injectable drugs into pre-filled syringes and improperly distributed those syringes to physicians treating vulnerable cancer patients. ABC is one of the nation’s largest wholesale drug companies and ranked number 11 on the Fortune 500 list. The drugs involved in ABC’s scheme were Procrit®, Aloxi®, Kytril® and its generic form granisetron, Anzemet® and Neupogen®.
Last year, AmerisourceBergen Specialty Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of AmerisourceBergen Corporation, pled guilty to illegally distributing misbranded drugs and agreed to pay $260 million to resolve criminal liability for its distribution of these drugs from a facility that was not registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The settlement announced today resolves ABC’s civil liability to the United States under the False Claims Act for causing false claims for the drugs it repackaged to be submitted to federal health care programs.
“The $885 million combined civil and criminal resolution with ABC underscores our determination to utilize all tools at our disposal to pursue illicit schemes that seek to profit from circumvention of important safeguards designed to protect the nation’s drug supply,” said Assistant Attorney General Joseph H. Hunt of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division. “We will continue to be particularly vigilant where these schemes put the health and safety of vulnerable patients at risk.”
“ABC placed corporate profits over patients’ needs, endangering the health of vulnerable cancer patients,” stated United States Attorney Donoghue. “This settlement, and the substantial penalty ABC has agreed to pay, reflect this Office’s firm commitment to protecting those in need of healthcare and holding to account those who put the health and safety of patients at risk.” Mr. Donoghue expressed his appreciation to the Department of Veterans Affairs and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units for their assistance.
Read more @ https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/amerisourcebergen-corporation-agrees-pay-625-million-resolve-allegations-it-illegally