The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has agreed to pay nearly $60 million to settle allegations that a company it acquired engaged in fraudulent practices by offering kickbacks to physicians to prescribe a specific migraine drug. The Justice Department revealed that Biohaven, which was purchased by Pfizer, provided improper remuneration to healthcare professionals to encourage the prescription of the migraine medication Nurtec ODT, violating the anti-kickback statute. This scheme occurred between March 1, 2020, and September 30, 2022, with Pfizer finalizing the acquisition of Biohaven in October 2022.
Prosecutors found that certain prescribers attended multiple speaker programs without receiving educational benefits, and some Biohaven speaker programs were attended by individuals who had no educational need to be present, such as speakers' family members or friends. Pfizer discontinued the Nurtec speaker programs after acquiring Biohaven for $11.5 billion.
