Schering-Plough and a subsidiary have agreed to pay a total of $435,000,000 to resolve civil and criminal charges related to illegal sales and marketing programs for its
drugs Temodar and Intron A, and for Medicaid fraud involving its drugs Claritin RediTabs, an antihistamine, and K-Dur, used in treating stomach conditions.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Health and Human Services Inspector General announced the settlement, saying that it ensures that the Medicaid programs which paid for prescriptions of Claritin RediTabs and K-Dur will obtain the benefit of the best price offered by Schering to commercial purchasers, and will ensure that Schering pays appropriate damages for improperly promoting its drugs for uses not approved by the FDA and from offering or paying kickbacks to physicians to prescribe those drugs.
The U.S. Attorney’s press release was issued on August 29, 2006.