Minnesota has recovered $256,000 in state Medicaid dollars as part of a settlement with HIV drugmaker Gilead Sciences, the Attorney General’s office said Wednesday.
For a period of six years, Gilead threw lavish dinners and bankrolled expensive trips to getaway destinations that were billed as educational conferences, according to state attorneys general and federal prosecutors. The company also paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to doctors who promoted the drug at its speaking engagements.
Attorney General Keith Ellison said in a statement Wednesday that “illegal kickbacks” like those at Gilead drive up the cost of prescription drugs.
“At a time when the Trump regime has yanked low-income Americans’ Medicaid out from underneath them, it outrages me even more to know that Gilead abused Medicaid to submit false claims and line its own pockets,” Ellison said.
“Big Pharma should take it as a warning that attorneys general are on the alert for illegal and abusive practices and will not hesitate to hold them accountable.”
A Gilead spokesperson defended its speaking programs in an email to the Minnesota Star Tribune on Wednesday, saying the events helped teach healthcare professionals about its important medicines.
Prosecutors say those meetings held little educational value. Investigators found more than 250 prescribers had attended programs on an identical topic three or more times during a six-month span.
Company representatives invited doctors who were prescribing its drugs to participate in the same program multiple times while visiting Hawaii and other desirable vacation spots, and organized programs at high-end restaurants including the James Beard House in New York.
