NEW YORK: Amgen Inc has agreed to pay $24.9 million to settle allegations that it provided kickbacks to long-term care pharmacy providers to entice them to use its Aranesp anemia drug instead of a rival medicine, the Department of Justice announced on Tuesday.
The DOJ charged that the world's largest biotechnology company violated the False Claims Act through kickbacks paid to Omnicare Inc, Kindred Healthcare Inc and PharMerica Corp in exchange for switching Medicare and Medicaid patients to Aranesp to treat their anemia.