Biovail fined $25M for bribing doctors

A subsidiary of Toronto-based drug maker Biovail Corp. will pay nearly $25 million US in fines after pleading guilty to encouraging doctors to prescribe their blood pressure drug by paying them cash on the side.

The Boston office of the U.S. attorney announced Monday that Bridgewater, N.J.-based Biovail Pharmaceuticals Inc. was sentenced to pay $22,243,590 after pleading guilty to conspiracy and kickback charges.

Prosecutors alleged Biovail paid thousands of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician's assistants and others up to $1,000 apiece to induce them to prescribe or recommend Biovail's drug Cardizem to patients, including prescriptions that were paid for by Medicaid.

"These payments exceeded the reasonable fair market value of the medical prescribers' time necessary to enrol these patients," the office said in a release.

"Such attempts not only drive up health-care costs, they deprive patients of the untainted medical decision-making and trust they deserve," acting United States Attorney Michael K. Loucks said.

Biovail had previously announced it had agreed to plead guilty and pay to settle the case in May 2008.

The companymust also paya $2,404,286 civil penalty to settle the matter.