February 12, 2013

Kentucky Reaches Settlement with Victory Pharma Over Kickbacks

Kentucky and other states, along with the federal government have reached a settlement with Victory Pharma, Inc. (VPI) for $12.2 million. Victory Pharma was accused of participating in an illegal kickback scheme.

The $12.2 million was in civil damages, which will be paid to Medicaid, Medicare, and other programs that were affected by the actions of the company.

VPI was accused of using illegal marketing tactics involving four of the drugs it offers, Naprelan, Xodol, Fexmid and Dolgic.

Kentucky Attorney General Jack Conway said, “Drug companies that engage in illegal marketing tactics to sell their products will be held accountable. Illegal kickback schemes waste taxpayer money, undermine the integrity of medical decisions and put the public’s health at risk.”

Among the kickbacks used to get physicians to prescribe the drugs were cash, cash disguised as speaker fees, tickets for events, meals, gifts, entertainment, and numerous other products or services.

Kentucky will receive $426,843 from the settlement with VPI, with about $120,000 of that being retained after payment is made to the federal government for the share it holds in the settlement.

Nothing was mentioned concerning why the physicians were allowed to get away with it.

1 comment:

  1. Illegal kickback schemes waste taxpayer money, undermine the int lump sum settlements

    ReplyDelete