Eli Lilly allegedly paid health care providers to recommend and prescribe weight loss drugs, according to a new complaint.
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 Medicaid 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.
“I will not stand by while corporations unlawfully manipulate our healthcare system to line their own pockets,” he said.
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 said that the company intends to “vigorously defend against” the allegations.
Health Choice Alliance is another plaintiff in the lawsuit. The group sued Eli Lilly in the past, alleging that it violated federal law by providing services to providers before prescriptions were written, but the federal government intervened, and judges dismissed the cases.
Paxton previously sued Eli Lilly, other insulin manufacturers, and pharmacies for allegedly conspiring to drive up the prices of insulin. Texas officials said this violated a different Texas law, the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act. That suit was later folded into multidistrict litigation being heard in New Jersey federal court.
