Company Paid Doctors To Push Drug (really? I can't imagine they would do something like that)

[DainBramaged]

Ista Pharmaceuticals To Pay $33.5 Million To Settle Claims Company Paid Doctors To Push Drug



* Ista said to offer kickbacks to doctors over cataract drug



* Xibrom drug said to be marketed for unapproved uses



* Settlement announced amid Bausch & Lomb merger talks






May 24 (Reuters) - Ista Pharmaceuticals Inc pleaded guilty on Friday to charges it used kickbacks and improper marketing to boost sales of a drug meant to treat eye pain and agreed to pay $33.5 million to settle criminal and civil liability, the U.S. Department of Justice said.



The unit of eye care company Bausch & Lomb pleaded guilty to conspiracy to offer kickbacks to induce physicians to prescribe Xibrom, a drug meant to treat pain after cataract surgery, and conspiracy to promote that drug for unapproved uses, including after Lasik and glaucoma surgeries.



Ista agreed as part of a criminal settlement to a $16.63 million fine and an $1.85 million asset forfeiture. It also agreed to a $15 million civil settlement to resolve allegations that its marketing of Xibrom caused false claims to be submitted to government health care programs.



As part of the settlement, Ista will be barred from participating in Medicare and Medicaid, and Bausch & Lomb agreed to strengthen its compliance and ethics procedures.


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/25/ista-pharmaceuticals-settlement_n_3333774.html


They got caught, common practice, my ex-doc was ALWAYS on some drug company golf outing or cruse or the other for the drugs he pushed on the patients. One of the many reasons he's my ex-doc.

[gvstn]

1. My stepdad's chemotherapy office

Used to have a lunch buffet every day for the staff. Not just a pizza or something but an entire buffet of 6-7 choices for their lunch. I doubt the doctor was paying for this. It is amazing what is considered legal. Perhaps it is only cash kickbacks that are occasionally prosecuted?

Another insteresting thing, I had never thought about is that he was originally getting a monthly injection of some type of drug prescribed by his urologist. When he started going to an oncologist, his urologist said matter of factly, "You can go ahead and get your injection from the oncologist, I'm not going to assert my right to demand you get it from me. It is only a few hundred dollar profit for me and it will be easier for you to get it from him--we have an agreement." I have no problem with that urologist, he was a good guy, but who would of thought that old cancer patients might be required to go from doctor to doctor because one feels he deserves to make the profit from dispensing a particular drug because he saw you first?

[reformist2]

2. Sadly, many, many doctors are on the take.

[abelenkpe]

3. Every time I'm in the waiting room of a doctors office

There are more pharmaceutical reps then there are patients.

[Cleita]

4. What do you think all those free samples from pharmaceutical sales people are

about? I know many times I was a guinea pig for a new drug. As I spent half my life uninsured and didn't make fancy wages. My doctors knew I couldn't always afford expensive drugs so they would go digging through their free samples to give me something to relieve my ailments. Usually, they were something new on the market that said doctors had not tried on patients before. I really think that they wouldn't prescribe something new like that unless they worked okay on me.

Speaking of eye surgery, specifically cataract surgery, that I had, once I was old enough for Medicare, my doctor told me to take Advil. As far as he was concerned it was all the pain relief I needed and he was right.

[Cooley Hurd]

6. For every sample they give out...

...their profit is covered 20-fold.

Just so you know, "samples" will ultimately dry up and then you'll have to pay full price for the same meds - many of which have made you addicted to them via the "free" samples.

[Cleita]

7. I don't anymore because I have Medicare. This was before I became

eligible for Medicare and didn't have any insurance. I didn't always get what I needed and started learning about what would work for me from my kitchen, herbs and OTC that could substitute. Hopefully, after the ACA kicks in, more people will have access to the medicine they need.

[jeffrey_pdx]

8. Speaking of free samples

I've been dealing with a bad eye infection lately. I don't have insurance, but the opthamologist I've been seeing (6 times in the last week alone) has given me his free samples of the eye drops I need. He said normally the bottle of drops is about $100+, but he knew I was paying for everything out of pocket. The eye's clearing up and it looks like I won't have to spend a dime on medication. I think good doctors use those free samples to help out those who need it.

[Cooley Hurd]

5. I'm in healthcare IT...

...which, at times, required me to be onsite. Way more times than you might imagine, I was offered a full meal from the staff - furnished by Drug Reps. I would then become very unpopular to these offices because I would tell the story of my late Mother, forced to spend every last cent on life-sustaining drugs - at the expense of her own diet!

Of course, I, and my siblings would supplement her income to cover this, but, for fuck's sake, she worked HARD her entire life (including raising 6 kids after my Dad died at 45 in an accident). She shouldn't have had to sacrifice her own meager retirement savings to pay for LIFE-SUSTENANCE drugs!