Takeda Pharmaceuticals has agreed to pay nearly $13.7 million to resolve allegations that it paid illegal kickbacks to healthcare providers to induce prescriptions of its antidepressant Trintellix, the Justice Department said in a May 14 news release.
The government alleged that from January 2014 to October 2020, Takeda paid improper speaker honoraria and provided meals at high-end restaurants to healthcare professionals as part of its Trintellix speaker bureau program, with the intent of inducing them to prescribe the medication in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
The government contended that certain prescribers attended duplicate programs on the same topic with no educational benefit, receiving only meals and drinks from the company.
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