Attorney General Ken Paxton said that the pharmaceutical company provided renumeration to providers to recommend and prescribe drugs.
Eli Lilly allegedly paid health care providers to recommend and prescribe weight loss drugs, according to a new complaint.
An Eli Lilly program that makes available free nursing services to providers who prescribe the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medications illegally induces providers to prescribe the drugs, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a lawsuit filed on Aug. 12 in a district court in Harrison County.
Another program, which gives providers who recommend and prescribe Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 medications help with completing tasks related to drug prescriptions, also violates state law, Paxton said.
The Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act states in part that people may not offer or pay “any remuneration, including any kickback, bribe, or rebate, in cash or in kind to induce a person to purchase, lease, or order, or arrange for or recommend the purchase, lease or order of, any good, facility, service, or item for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under the medical assistance program.”
GLP-1 drugs help patients lose weight and manage diabetes.
Eli Lilly is “aware that the Free Nurse and Support Services programs save Providers money and thus create incentives for Providers to prescribe Covered Drugs,” according to the complaint.
Texas officials are seeking a jury trial. They want a judgment finding Eli Lilly in violation of the state law. They also want the company to be ordered to pay civil penalties and to pay back money it received under the programs.
Paxton said in a statement that Eli Lilly “fraudulently sought to maximize profits at taxpayer expense and put corporate greed over people’s health.“ He added, ”I will not stand by while corporations unlawfully manipulate our healthcare system to line their own pockets.”
A spokesperson for Eli Lilly told The Epoch Times in an email, “Multiple courts and the federal government have rejected claims by this same corporate relator against Lilly as meritless.“ The spokesperson added that the company intends to ”vigorously defend against these allegations.”
