Anonymous ID: c9e8dd April 4, 2019, 10:09 p.m. No.6055156   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5192 >>5313 >>5462 >>5514

DOJ reaches $122M settlement with drug companies over Medicare violation

 

April 4 (UPI) – Three drugmakers accused of illegally paying copays for Medicare patients reached a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice totaling $122.6 million Thursday. The Justice Department said that Jazz Pharmaceuticals, Lundbeck LLC and Alexion Pharmaceuticals violated a statute that prohibits a pharmaceutical company from offering or paying any remuneration to induce patients to purchase the company's drugs. "This misconduct is widespread, and enforcement will continue until pharmaceutical companies stop circumventing the anti-kickback laws to artificially bolster high drug prices, all at the expense of American taxpayers," U.S. Attorney Andrew Lelling said.

 

In 2011, Jazz allegedly requested that an outside foundation create a fund that would pay the copays of Medicare patients using its narcolepsy drug Xyrem. The company then made Medicare patients ineligible for Jazz's free drug program, instead referring them to the foundation. This enabled Jazz to generate revenue from Medicare and induce purchases of the drug instead of providing them for free. "Meanwhile, Jazz raised the price of Xyrem by over 150 percent from 2011 through the end of the relevant time period," the Justice Department said.

 

Lundbeck – which manufactures Xenazine, the only approved drug to treat ailments associated with Huntington's disease – allegedly funneled millions of dollars into a fund that ostensibly provided financial support only for patients with Huntington's disease. The company then referred Xenazine patients with other conditions to the foundation and paid their copays for the unapproved uses.

 

Alexion also allegedly asked a foundation to set up a fund to cover out-of-pocket expenses for patients that take Soliris, a drug used to treat a rare blood disorder that costs $500,000 a year.

 

Jazz and Lundbeck each entered five-year corporate integrity agreements as part of their settlements, which require them to ensure any patient assistance programs they donate to are operated independently. Alexion wasn't required to enter such a deal because the Justice Department said it had already made "sweeping and fundamental" organizational changes including hiring a new eight-member executive leadership team and changing half of the members of its board of directors.

 

https://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2019/04/04/DOJ-reaches-122M-settlement-with-drug-companies-over-Medicare-violation/3031554408386/

Anonymous ID: c9e8dd April 4, 2019, 10:35 p.m. No.6055434   🗄️.is 🔗kun   >>5464

In Less Than 24 Hours, House Democrats Unveil Three Efforts Targeting Trump

(1 of 2)

 

The Democratic chairmen of three key House committees launched a multi-pronged attack on President Donald Trump on April 3, unveiling a request for the commander in chief’s tax returns, confirming plans to issue a subpoena for his financial records, and authorizing subpoenas for the release of the special counsel report by Robert Mueller. Early on April 3, the House Judiciary Committee voted to authorize Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), to issue subpoenas for the Mueller report and underlying documents. Hours later, the Democratic chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Reform said he plans to issue a subpoena to Trump’s accounting firm after the company signaled its readiness to turn over 10 years of financial records upon being compelled by Congress. And before the day was over, the Democratic chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee used a little-known provision in the tax code to request six years of Trump’s tax returns from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

 

House Democrats have initiated a number of far-reaching efforts targeting Trump since gaining the majority after the 2018 midterm election, but the spree on April 3 was the busiest day in their campaign to pressure the president. The flurry of activity is the latest effort in the offensive campaign by the Democrats, which appears to have ramped up after Mueller exonerated Trump of collusion allegations and Attorney General William Barr concluded that there isn’t enough evidence of obstruction to bring a case against the president in a court of law. Nadler did not immediately issue any subpoenas for the Mueller report. The Democrats on the committee moved to authorize the subpoenas, despite Barr having indicated that he plans to release the report to Congress in mid-April.

 

Mueller’s report will likely be redacted to protect grand jury testimony and information that links to ongoing investigations. If that ends up being the case, Nadler has indicated that he will fight to see the full report. “This committee requires the full report and the underlying materials because it is our job, not the attorney general’s, to determine whether or not President Trump has abused his office,” Nadler said April 3. In 1998, Nadler argued against releasing the full report by independent counsel Kenneth Starr which recommended the impeachment of Democratic President Bill Clinton, arguing that it would contain “all kinds of material that it would be unfair to release.”

 

In a response to Nadler’s April 3 move, House Republicans wrote on Twitter that “without facts on their side, Democrats have put all their hope in optics. There is no legislative purpose to these subpoenas.” Not long after the judiciary committee voted to authorize the subpoenas, the Democratic chairman of the House Oversight and Reform Committee, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) told reporters that Trump’s accounting firm, Mazars USA, had asked the committee for a “friendly” subpoena in order to comply with a request for 10 years of Trump’s financial records. “They have told us that they will provide the information pretty much when they have a subpoena,” Cummings said, according to Politico. “And we’ll get them a subpoena.” Cummings requested the documents from Mazars USA in a letter (pdf) on March 20. The request drew on information the committee gathered from the testimony of Trump’s former personal attorney, Michael Cohen.

 

https://www.theepochtimes.com/house-democrats-unveil-three-efforts-targeting-trump_2867078.html

Elijah Cummings letter to Mazar's USA

https://www.politico.com/f/?id=00000169-c07d-dc59-a16d-e6fd451d0002