(Reuters) – The U.S. government sued Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd on Tuesday, accusing the drugmaker of causing the submission of false claims to Medicare as a result of kickbacks it paid for its multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone.
In a complaint filed with the U.S. district court in Boston, the U.S. Department of Justice said Teva paid two third-party foundations more than $300 million to cover Medicare co-payment obligations of Copaxone patients.
The Justice Department said this generated hundreds of millions of dollars of false claims to Medicare and more revenue for Teva, whose conduct violated the federal False Claims Act.
(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Steve Orlofsky)
