What were the Acthar copay kickback allegations?
Questcor allegedly partnered with the Chronic Disease Fund from 2010 to 2014 to cover Medicare copays through three foundation funds, marketing Acthar as effectively free to patients — while its price kept rising and Medicare paid in full — settling for $26.3 million.
The same Justice Department resolution included about $26.3 million to settle allegations that Mallinckrodt paid illegal subsidies through three funds at a foundation to induce Medicare-reimbursed Acthar purchases and to counter concerns from doctors and patients about the drug's high cost. According to Fierce Pharma, the claims covered 2010 to 2014, when Questcor allegedly partnered with the Chronic Disease Fund to subsidise Medicare copays and market the drug as effectively free to patients, even as its price rose. If patients do not feel a drug's price, they and their doctors have less reason to question it, while Medicare continues to pay the full amount. The case was part of a wider federal crackdown on manufacturer-funded copay charities.