Swiss pharmaceutical giant Novartis has agreed to pay more than $642 million to settle a lawsuit which accused it of paying kickbacks to doctors, among other allegations, the US Department of Justice said on Wednesday.

An Indian shopkeeper sells cancer drugs by Indian generic drug manufacturer Cipla in Allahabad, India, on April 1, 2013, when India's Supreme Court rejected drug maker Novartis AG's attempt to patent a new version of a cancer drug Glivec. Photo: IC

Part of the settlement pertained to the company's use of three foundations to funnel payments to cover costs for patients taking its multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya and kidney cancer drug Afinitor.

Another part centered on alleged bribing of doctors to prescribe the company's medication. "Through this settlement and others, the government has demonstrated its commitment to ensuring that drug companies do not use kickbacks to influence the drugs prescribed by doctors or purchased by patients," Assistant Attorney General Jody Hunt said.

Novartis is accused of having hosted tens of thousands of speaker programs and events which the Department of Justice said were used to bribe physicians. In one example, the company chose doctors who already prescribed high volumes of Novartis drugs to serve as paid speakers, as a means of inducing them to continue writing or write more prescriptions.

Representatives often dropped doctors from the speaker program if they failed to increase prescriptions, the Department of Justice said.

Under the settlement, Novartis will participate in a five-year corporate integrity agreement with the Department of Health and Human Services to address company conduct.
Newspaper headline: Novartis nods to $642m US settlement