Cephalon is under federal investigation again. The company disclosed it has received a subpoena from the U.S. Postal Service, which is working with the Justice Department in an investigation related to the pain drug Fentora. The probe deals with postal workers' compensation claims, the company said.
Neither the U.S. Attorney's Office in Philadelphia nor the Postal Service would comment on the investigation. However, the post office's inspector general confirmed that a subpoena had been dispatched. The company wouldn't comment beyond the regulatory filing, Dow Jones reports.
In the past, the Postal Service has been involved in probes of drugmakers' marketing practices, including a previous investigation at Cephalon. As Dow Jones reminds us, Cephalon pleaded guilty to an off-label marketing charge and agreed to pay $426 million to settle with various government entities, including the Postal Service. The drugs involved in that case included another Cephalon pain drug, Actiq.
Since then, Cephalon has been operating under a corporate integrity agreement with the government that requires it to report information about its payments to doctors and to contact Health and Human Services if it finds potential legal violations at the company.
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