Pharmaceutical Kickbacks

Right now the pharmaceutical industry is in the middle of its biggest challenge in history. Whistleblowers have exposed and continue to expose fraudulent practices ranging from pricing issues to sales and marketing practices at a rate never anticipated by either the pharmaceutical industry or the Department of Justice. Settlements and jury verdicts have been headline grabbing and large, attracting the attention of pharma, regulators, Congress and taxpayers. The qui tam pharmaceutical fraud cases settled since 2000 alone have amounted to over 3.5 billion dollars, representing various patterns of fraud. We expect to see some new patterns as time goes by, especially with the new Medicare prescription drug benefit. Pharmaceutical fraud is still abundant and this blog is intended to keep readers up to date with all pharmaceutical fraud related news and to provide commentary when warranted. This blog also contains an array of laws and regulations concerning the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act set out in an easy to read format.

Effect on Off-Label Marketing in the 2010 Budget Details?

by Nolan and Auerbach on June 9, 2009

The Department of Health and Human Services recently released its budget proposal for 2010. As it relates to the FDA, HHS is looking to build

on the  $1.1billion included in the recovery Act for comparative effectiveness research.  The funds requested will continue efforts to produce state-of-the-science information on what medical treatments work best for a given condition.

Not only will these  findings enhance medical decision-making by patients and their physicians,  they will likely  close the door a little bit more to the success of off-label marketing of pharmaceuticals for indications that have little to no science to back up the claims of efficacy. Physicians will hopefully have a readily available source from which to compare treatments and drugs.

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