Weeks after settling a five-year patent dispute with the U.S. government for an undisclosed sum, California's Gilead Sciences revealed that it has set aside $200 million for a potential resolution of a longer-running case.
In its 10-K annual report to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) last week, Gilead acknowledged the “accrual of approximately $200 million for a potential settlement" of a government investigation.
In 2017, the company received a subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan seeking "documents related to our promotional speaker programs for HIV," the company noted.
Gilead first acknowledged the subpoena in its 2017 10-K securities filing.
Over the last few years, the government has taken a closer look at payments drugmakers make to healthcare providers for speaking engagements and other promotional activities. To increase transparency, the 2010 Physician Payments Sunshine Act required companies to divulge their payments to doctors.
In 2020, Novartis paid $680 million to the government to settle a case in which prosecutors claimed that Novartis used “tens of thousands of” speaker programs and events—some entailing exorbitant meals—as disguise to provide bribes to doctors. The goal, according to prosecutors, was to encourage doctors to prescribe the company’s drugs.
Also in 2020, Teva agreed to pay $54 million to settle a whistleblower case with the government in which it was alleged that the company paid doctors to speak at “sham” events where there were no attendees. The scheme was allegedly conducted to pay doctors to prescribe Teva’s multiple sclerosis drug Copaxone and Parkinson’s med Azilect.