AbbVie (ABBV -1.7%) slips on below-average volume in apparent reaction to a lawsuit filed by the California Insurance Commissioner alleging that the company used a “stealthy” network of nurses and kickbacks to doctors to boost prescriptions of top seller Humira.
Commissioner Dave Jones says that, over a five-year period, the company offered physicians various incentives, including cash, meals, drinks, gifts and trips as well as patient referrals, to boost prescriptions for rheumatoid arthritis. The company also allegedly used registered nurses, hired to act as “ambassadors” to visit patients at home and help with administering the drug, to ensure that prescription were refilled, a tactic called “white coat marketing.”
In California, 274K claims for Humira prescriptions were submitted to private insurers who paid out more than $1.2B, according to the lawsuit.
The allegation were initially raised by whistleblower Lazaro Suarez, an RN who worked for QuintilesIMS (now part of IQVIA) and helped develop the network of nurses.
AbbVie is not alone in using nurses to promote medicines. Gilead Sciences (GILD +1.5%), Amgen (AMGN +1.2%), Eli Lilly (LLY +1.2%) and Bayer Pharmaceuticals (OTCPK:BAYRY +0.8%) have apparently used the same approach.
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