Probe of Sanofi-Aventis' Sales Activities Expanded
The U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston has expanded its investigation into sanofi-aventis' sales practices, the company said in a recent SEC filing.
Sanofi-aventis' Aventis Pharmaceuticals (API) subsidiary previously received subpoenas from the U.S. attorney as part of a civil and criminal investigation into whether API's sales of certain products to managed care organizations should have been included in the "best price" calculations used to compute Medicaid rebates. That probe has now expanded to include allegations of illegal payments, the company said.
"The U.S. Attorney's Office in Boston expanded its 'private label' investigation to include allegations that API directly or indirectly made payments to customers or to those in a position to influence sales of API pharmaceuticals in order to obtain or keep drug business and to evade Medicaid best price reporting requirements," the SEC filing states. "As part of the expanded investigation the government served API with a subpoena investigating criminal federal healthcare violations related to healthcare benefit programs."
The U.S. Attorney's Office asked for documents related to API's interactions with and payments to managed care customers, formulary placement, sales and marketing of specific products to those managed care customers, as well as contracts with wholesalers and distributors and payments to non-API employees, the company said. In addition to subpoenaing API, the U.S. Attorney's Office has extended its probe to at least two employees.
Upcoming Events
-
21Oct