Alpharma Settles Kickback Allegations for $42.5M

Bridgewater, N.J.-based Alpharma Inc. has agreed to pay $42.5 million to the U.S. government and certain states to settle allegations that it provided kickbacks to physicians in order entice the physicians to write prescriptions for the painkiller Kadian, both for on- and off-label uses, according to a news release by Phillips & Cohen LLP, the law firm representing the whistleblower who brought forth the allegations.

The settlement followed government intervention in a qui tam suit alleging Alphama paid kickbacks in the form of sham consulting arrangements, payments for attendance at meetings and so-called educational grants in order to increase sales of Kadian, a morphine-based drug, according to the release.

Read the release on the Alpharma settlement.

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