Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) filed a lawsuit accusing Sanofi of providing kickbacks to doctors, in the form of a free network of nurses and insurance support services, to boost prescriptions of its medicines. Â
By doing so, the drugmaker allegedly helps manage key aspects of patient care that a physician would otherwise have to handle or pay staff to perform. This lightens a physician’s workload, which is a “powerful and improper inducement to prescribe [Sanofi] drugs over competing therapies,” according to the lawsuit.
Moreover, some of the Sanofi drugs are used to treat chronic illnesses such as diabetes, multiple sclerosis, hemophilia, and autoimmune disorders, which means the alleged kickback scheme has created years of revenue for the company, even if its medicines are not the best option for patients, Paxton maintained in the lawsuit.Continue to STAT+ to read the full story…