Pursuits
Celgene Accused of Using Charities ‘Scheme’ to Gain Billions
- Allegations in whistleblower suit are baseless, drugmaker says
- Revlimid maker and others disclose subpoenas in federal probe
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Celgene Corp. donated hundreds of millions of dollars to charities that help patients afford high-priced drugs for multiple myeloma and other cancers “as part of a core business scheme to gain billions” from U.S. taxpayers, according to allegations in federal court filings.
The biotechnology giant then coordinated with the charities to ensure that Celgene’s medicines were covered, violating federal law in the process, documents filed last week in a whistleblower lawsuit allege. Doing so enabled Celgene to collect billions of dollars in reimbursements from Medicare and other public health plans, according to the filings for the whistleblower, a former Celgene sales representative named Beverly Brown.