Alpharma to Pay $42.5 Million for Kickbacks and Misinformation Campaign Over Morphine-Based Drug

On Tuesday, March 16th, the Justice Department announced the settlement of a False Claims Act case involving the pharmaceutical company Alpharma Inc. The drug manufacturer, now a subsidiary of King Pharmaceuticals Inc. of Bristol, Tennessee, agreed to pay $42.5 million to resolve allegations with its marketing of the morphine-based drug Kadian.  Between January 1, 2000 and December 29, 2008, Alpharma was found to have bribe health care providers to promote and/or prescribe Kadian, and also made false claims about the safety and efficacy of the drug.

“Health care decisions must be based solely upon what is best for the individual patient and not on which pharmaceutical company is paying the doctor the biggest kickback,” said Rod J. Rosenstein, U.S. Attorney for the District of Maryland.

The lawsuit was initiated by a whistleblower, Debra Parks, through the qui tam provisions of the False Claims Act, which allows private citizens to expose fraudulent behavior with government money and share in any recovery. Of the $42.5 million recovered in the case, Ms. Parks will receive $5.33 million.

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