Pharmaceutical company Pfizer Inc., on behalf of its wholly-owned subsidiary Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd., has agreed to pay $59,746,277 to resolve allegations that, prior to Pfizer’s acquisition of the company, Biohaven knowingly caused the submission of false claims to Medicare and other federal healthcare programs by paying kickbacks to healthcare providers to induce prescriptions of Biohaven’s drug Nurtec ODT. The settlement resolves allegations that from March 1, 2020, through Sept. 30, 2022, Biohaven paid improper remuneration, including in the form of speaker honoraria and meals at high end restaurants, to healthcare professionals to induce them to prescribe the migraine medication Nurtec ODT in violation of the anti-kickback statute. The United States alleged that Biohaven selected certain healthcare providers to be part of the Nurtec speaker bureau and provided them paid speaking opportunities with the intent that the speaker honoraria and meals would induce them to prescribe Nurtec ODT.
The government further alleged that certain prescribers who attended multiple programs on the same topic received no educational benefit from attending repeat programs and that certain Biohaven speaker programs were attended by individuals with no educational need to attend, such as the speakers’ spouses, family members, or friends, or colleagues from the speakers’ own medical practice. The United States contends that this conduct persisted until October 2022, when Pfizer acquired Biohaven and terminated the Nurtec speaker programs.
