mRNA giant Biogen pays $900M over kickback allegations

Biogen, the mRNA behemoth, has agreed to pay a whopping $900 million after the feds said the Cambridge company was accused of paying kickbacks to physicians to induce them to prescribe Biogen drugs.

The settlement resolves a whistleblower lawsuit, said Rachael Rollins, U.S. attorney for Massachusetts.

“This matter is an important example of the vital role that whistleblowers and their attorneys can play in protecting our nation’s public healthcare programs,” Rollins added.

That whistleblower, former Biogen employee Michael Bawduniak, alleged that the company paid kickbacks to physicians “to induce them to prescribe the company’s multiple sclerosis drugs,” the announcement stated.

Biogen has agreed to pay $843.8 million to the government and $56.2 million to 15 states. It was not stated how much Bawduniak will be paid — with the U.S. Attorney’s office saying only he will receive “a share of the federal recovery.”

According to Bawduniak’s complaint, from Jan. 1, 2009, through March 18, 2014, Biogen held programs through which it “offered and paid remuneration, including speaker honoraria, speaker training fees, consulting fees and meals, to health care professionals who spoke at or attended Biogen’s speaker programs, speaker training meetings or consultant programs to induce them to prescribe the drugs Avonex, Tysabri and Tecfidera in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute,” the feds said.

“Bawduniak doggedly pursued this matter on behalf of the United States for over seven years,” said Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Department of Justice’s Civil Division.

He added: “The settlement announced today underscores the critical role that whistleblowers and their attorneys play in utilizing the False Claims Act to combat fraud affecting federal healthcare programs.”

Biogen closed down slightly more than 1% Monday at $195.75 per share.