Amgen will pay $25M to resolve kickback case including kickbacks to Kindred

The U.S. Department of Justice said Tuesday that biotech drugmaker Amgen Inc. will pay $24.9 million to resolve claims it paid kickbacks to increase sales of its anemia drug Aranesp.

The Justice Department said Amgen paid kickbacks to Omnicare and PharMerica Corp., which sell drugs to long-term care providers like nursing homes and hospitals, and Kindred Healthcare Inc., which runs long-term acute care hospitals and nursing and rehabilitation centers. It said Amgen wanted the companies to switch Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries to Aranesp from competing drugs and tried to get consultant pharmacists and nursing home staffers to encourage the use of Aranesp in patients who didn't have anemia associated with kidney failure.

Read more: Amgen will pay $25M to resolve kickback case | Modern Healthcare http://www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20130416/INFO/304169985#ixzz2Qp5ojo3T
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