by Ben Vernia | July 19th, 2022
On June 18, the Department of Justice announced that a California pain specialist had agreed to pay over $270,000 to settle allegations that he received kickbacks from two pharmaceutical companies to prescribe their drugs, including opioids. According to DOJ’s press release:
Dr. Gerald M. Sacks, a pain specialist with an office in Santa Monica, California, has paid $271,259.12 to resolve allegations that he violated the False Claims Act. The allegations concerned prescribing the medications Butrans, Hysingla and OxyContin to Medicare beneficiaries in exchange, at least in part, for receiving paid speaking and consulting work from their manufacturer, Purdue Pharma LP, and the medications Gralise, Lazanda and Nucynta to Medicare beneficiaries in exchange, at least in part, for receiving paid speaking and consulting work from their manufacturer, Depomed Inc.
Prescribing drugs in exchange for receiving paid speaking and consulting work from their manufacturers violates the Anti-Kickback Statute, and renders associated claims to federal health care programs false. Butrans, Hysingla, OxyContin, Lazanda and Nucynta are opioid medications for the treatment of pain. Gralise is a nerve-pain medication.
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The case apparently arose from a government investigation, rather than a whistleblower’s lawsuit.
