"Again, a corporation has been caught fraudulently inflating the cost of a drug used primarily to reduce the side effects of cancer treatments without regard to the increased costs borne by government health care programs or elderly and indigent patients," said U.S. Attorney R. Alexander Acosta of the Southern District of Florida. "Corporations cannot continue to mislead the government into paying vastly exaggerated prices by exploiting a health care system based on trust and fair play."

As part of a condition for continuing to work with providers who do business with the Medicare and Medicaid programs, Aventis agreed to enter into a Corporate Integrity Agreement with the Office of Inspector General of the Department of Health and Human Services that, among other things, will require the company to report accurate average sales prices and average manufacturer's prices for its drugs covered by Medicare and other federal health care programs.


"Fraudulent drug pricing and marketing schemes divert scarce Medicare and Medicaid resources away from patient care," said Daniel R. Levinson, HHS Inspector General. "One of OIG's top priorities is to root out pharmaceutical fraud and hold companies liable for their actions."

"One of the essential elements in administering federal health programs is the need to protect taxpayers and the millions of elderly and low-income Americans who depend on these programs," said Kerry Weems, Acting Administrator for the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services. "This settlement reinforces our commitment to protect the integrity of Medicare and Medicaid."

Of the more than $190 million settlement, the federal recovery is $179,787,726, and the states' and District of Columbia's recovery for their share of Medicaid is $10,645,600.

The investigation was conducted by the Civil Division of the Department of Justice, the U.S. Attorney's Offices for the Southern District of Florida and the District of Massachusetts, the Office of Inspector General for the Department of Health and Human Services, the Office of Program Integrity of TRICARE Management Activity, and the National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units.


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