BMS to pay $515M in kickback case

Bristol-Myers Squibb now has the dubious distinction of the third-largest court settlement between a drug maker and the U.S. Attorney's office in Massachusetts. The drug maker agreed to pay $515 million to settle kickback claims.

It's not the money that's most worrisome, though, but the behind-the-curtain machinations of a special Bristol-Myers sales force charged with marketing the antipsychotic Abilify for off-label uses--included one use that the FDA had warned against. The company also defrauded Medicaid with a pricing scheme on the antidepressant Serzone, and inflated prices of various cancer drugs and generics.

- see the U.S. Attorney's statement on the settlement
- read Bristol-Myers' statement
- read the report from the Boston Globe

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