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Market WatchApril 27, 2010, 2:37 p.m. EDT
SAN FRANCISCO (marketWatch) -- AstraZeneca will pay $520 million to settle claims it improperly marketed its anti-psychotic drug Seroquel, the Department of Justice said Tuesday. Under the settlement, the federal government will get $301.9 million from the civil settlement, and the state Medicaid programs will get up to $218.1 million. AstraZeneca was charged with promoting Seroquel for such unapproved uses as anxiety, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and bipolar maintenance, and for unapproved populations such as children and the elderly, according to the Justice Department.
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http://www.marketwatch.com/story/doj-astrazeneca-to-pay-520-mln-over-seroquel-2010-04-27
AstraZeneca to pay $520 million in illegal-marketing caseTuesday, April 27, 2010; 4:24 PM
Pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca will pay $520 million to settle allegations that the company illegally marketed an antipsychotic drug and paid kickbacks to physicians, the Justice Department announced Tuesday.
The settlement centers on the Delaware-based company's efforts to promote Seroquel, which the Food and Drug Administration has approved to treat disorders such as schizophrenia and bipolar depression. The government alleges that AstraZeneca aggressively marketed the drug for unapproved uses -- such as to treat Alzheimer's disease and anxiety -- to physicians, who then put patients at risk by prescribing it.
The Justice Department also contends that the company violated the federal anti-kickback statute by making illegal payments to physicians. They were allegedly recruited by AstraZeneca to present themselves as authors of articles the company had written about the drug.
The civil settlement was the latest step in an Obama administration crackdown on health-care fraud. "We will not let such actions stand," Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. said at a news conference. "This administration is committed to recovering taxpayer money lost to health-care fraud."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/04/27/AR2010042703624.html