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Biogen agrees to pay $900M to settle drug kickbacks allegations

justice.gov

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Re: Biogen agrees to pay $900M to settle drug kickbacks allegations

#41

Post by ada1981 »

westhom wrote: post #30
alephxyz wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The United States agrees that Relator shall be awarded a share of $250,000,000 ofthe Federal Settlement Amount paid by Biogen.

That’s an epic reward, even if a large portion goes to legal help. How are there not more whistle blowers in big pharma? Granted, it was 7 years of hard work, but payoff is crazy.

He’s not getting $250MM, that is what the Fed gets (rest is going to States it seems).

He gets a % of the 250MM which I can’t find what it actually is.

Re: Biogen agrees to pay $900M to settle drug kickbacks allegations

#42

Post by refurb »

criddell wrote: post #26
colechristensen wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And what is the right size?

They should lose patent protection on the drugs involved in the kickback scheme.

They don’t need a new punishment.

If found guilty, you can be banned from doing any business with Medicare and Medicaid in the US - that’s already a part of the law and it’s the same as losing 50% of your revenue in perpetuity.

But it’s never used. Well, they used it on Pfizer, but the agreement was the ban was for a shell company they owned that didn’t actually sell any drugs. A sacrificial lamb if you will.

“A Pfizer subsidiary, Pharmacia and Upjohn Inc., which was acquired in 2003, has agreed to plead guilty to one count of felony misbranding.”

https://www.dispatch.com/story/news/2009/09/03/pfizer-must-p...

Re: Biogen agrees to pay $900M to settle drug kickbacks allegations

#43

Post by refurb »

claytongulick wrote: post #32
rgrieselhuber wrote: post #22

Quoted post unavailable.

It was so bizarre for me to watch this mentality through covid. Like, suddenly there was zero reason to scrutinize the claims made by pharma. The same folks who have been repeatedly held both criminal and civil liability for wrong doing - were suddenly handed a blank check and blanket immunity. And no one is allowed to even suggest that we may want to ask questions or look closer without being called an anti-vaxxer.

I know some people in pharma and Covid was the best thing that ever happened to their reputation.

To use a quote from the movie Casino..

“For companies like Pfizer, Covid washes away your sins. It's a morality car wash. It does for us what Lourdes does for humpbacks and cripples.”

Re: Biogen agrees to pay $900M to settle drug kickbacks allegations

#45

Post by [deleted] »

refurb wrote: post #42
criddell wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They should lose patent protection on the drugs involved in the kickback scheme.

They don’t need a new punishment. If found guilty, you can be banned from doing any business with Medicare and Medicaid in the US - that’s already a part of the law and it’s the same as losing 50% of your revenue in perpetuity. But it’s never used. Well, they used it on Pfizer, but the agreement was the ban was for a shell company they owned that didn’t actually sell any drugs. A sacrificial lamb if you will. “A Pfiz…

[deleted]

Re: Biogen agrees to pay $900M to settle drug kickbacks allegations

#46

Post by loeg »

ada1981 wrote: post #40
loeg wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I was expecting closer to 10%, which would still have been a ton of money ($84-90M depending on if it's of the Fed cut or total). 28-30% is huge.

Thus isn’t 30%. The Fed gets $250MM, and he gets an unlisted percent of that amount. He’s not getting $250MM. The rest seems to be going to the states.

Are you sure? My read is the states get $50M, the fed gets $840M, and he gets $250M of that 840.

> Under the terms of the settlement, Biogen will pay $843,805,187 to the United States and $56,194,813 to 15 states.

Re: Biogen agrees to pay $900M to settle drug kickbacks allegations

#47

Post by CountSessine »

missedthecue wrote: post #39
pGuitar wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not sure how long they have been doing this, but even if it was only one year, the fine is too small.

According to the article, it occured between 2009 and 2014. Not sure exactly how much profit they made off of it and it's probably not easy to find out, but of the three drugs they marketed in unlawful ways, Tysabri for instance had US sales of $58m in the 08-09 year. And that's sales not pure profit after costs.

Ask and ye shall receive: Biogen annual net income for the year ending...

2010-June-30: $1094M

2011-June-30: $1076M

2012-June-30: $1342M

2013-June-30: $1608M

2014-June-30: $2140M

2015-June-30: $3490M

Also, because someone asked, edgar has a bar chart breakdown of Biogen's product revenue. The lawsuit was about Biogen's drugs Avonex, Tysabri and Tecfidera. The bar chart (https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/875045/0000875045150...) seems to indicate that these three were responsible for about 80-83% of Biogen's revenues (and presumably net income?) in 2014.

I guess what we don't know is what their sales would have been like without the kickbacks? Less, presumably? But 0? Probably not.

Re: Biogen agrees to pay $900M to settle drug kickbacks allegations

#48

Post by alephxyz »

ada1981 wrote: post #40
loeg wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow, I was expecting closer to 10%, which would still have been a ton of money ($84-90M depending on if it's of the Fed cut or total). 28-30% is huge.

Thus isn’t 30%. The Fed gets $250MM, and he gets an unlisted percent of that amount. He’s not getting $250MM. The rest seems to be going to the states.

That's not correct, have a look at the relator share agreement: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/press-release/file/1538256/d...

Re: Biogen agrees to pay $900M to settle drug kickbacks allegations

#49

Post by ada1981 »

alephxyz wrote: post #48
ada1981 wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thus isn’t 30%. The Fed gets $250MM, and he gets an unlisted percent of that amount. He’s not getting $250MM. The rest seems to be going to the states.

That's not correct, have a look at the relator share agreement: https://www.justice.gov/usao-ma/press-release/file/1538256/d...

Oh wow. Ok I stand corrected. Wonder if they will pay.

Re: Biogen agrees to pay $900M to settle drug kickbacks allegations

#50

Post by ada1981 »

ada1981 wrote: post #41
westhom wrote: post #30

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s an epic reward, even if a large portion goes to legal help. How are there not more whistle blowers in big pharma? Granted, it was 7 years of hard work, but payoff is crazy.

He’s not getting $250MM, that is what the Fed gets (rest is going to States it seems). He gets a % of the 250MM which I can’t find what it actually is.

I was wrong, it appears he will get $250MM if they end up having to pay.
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