Bristol-Myers Squibb Launches Internal Review of Sales and Marketing Practices

Officials from drug company Bristol-Myers Squibb announced on July 22 that the company has begun an internal review of its sales and marketing practices to determine whether it has violated federal antikickback laws and pricing requirements for Medicaid and other federal health programs, the Newark Star-Ledger reports (Todd, Newark Star-Ledger, 7/23). The Securities and Exchange Commission and Justice Department have been investigating revenue overstatements that the company made by improperly recording sales to wholesalers toward the end of fiscal quarters; in March the company admitted to the overstating its revenue by $2.5 billion between 1999 and 2001 (Landers, Wall Street Journal, 7/23). In addition, the U.S. attorney in Massachusetts is investigating the marketing practices employed by BMS and other drug manufacturers (Newark Star-Ledger, 7/23). The House Committee on Energy and Commerce also is examining BMS, along with about two dozen other pharmaceutical companies, for possible Medicaid fraud (AP/Long Island Newsday, 7/22). A company spokesperson did not say what prompted the probe (Newark Star-Ledger, 7/23). Company directors were told that the internal probe was initiated because the prosecutors involved in the government inquiries are "aggressive," according to a source familiar with the situation, the Journal reports (Wall Street Journal, 7/23).