Justice Department Probes Drug Pricing Practices By Merck, Eli Lilly And Valeant
The drug makers received inquiries from regional U.S. Attorney's offices seeking information about how they calculate and report drug prices for the Medicaid rebate program. In a separate inquiry, federal prosecutors are investigating allegations of fraudulent Tricare claims by several compounding pharmacies.
The Wall Street Journal:
Lilly, Merck And Valeant Receive Inquiries About Drug Pricing
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania and the Justice Department’s civil division are seeking information from Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc. and Eli Lilly & Co. about how they calculate and report drug prices for the Medicaid rebate program, the companies disclosed in filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission in recent weeks. (Loftus, 11/6)
CNN Money:
Merck, Eli Lilly Targeted In Federal Drug Pricing Probe
Merck and Eli Lilly are both being investigated by the Justice Department for their drug-pricing practices. The pharmaceutical giants both disclosed the probes by the U.S. Attorney's office in Philadephia in SEC documents. (Isidore, 11/6)
The Wall Street Journal:
U.S. Targets Pharmacies Over Soaring Claims To Military Health Program
Federal prosecutors in at least four states are mounting investigations into what they describe as widespread fraud by compounding pharmacies in claims to the health-insurance program that covers 9.5 million U.S. military members and their families. In the latest move, four Florida pharmacies last month agreed to pay $12.8 million combined to settle civil allegations that they falsely billed the insurance program Tricare for expensive pharmaceutical creams and gels to treat pain, scars and other ailments, according to A. Lee Bentley III, the U.S. attorney for the Middle District of Florida. (Walker, 11/8)
Elsewhere, in other pharmaceutical news -
Reuters:
Allergan CEO Saunders Warms Up To Drug Discovery
Brenton Saunders, the whiz-kid pharmaceutical executive with a reputation for being wary of the costs of early-stage drug development, says he's open to new ideas from outside and is now warming up to investing in drug discovery if it makes sense for his company. While sources close to the ongoing negotiations stress that no decision on Saunders' role has been taken yet, the possibility of Pfizer being led or influenced by an executive who has not overseen the full development, from discovery to approval, of a single drug raises concerns among many industry insiders. (Pierson and Berkrot, 11/6)
