California's insurance regulator has accused pharmaceutical giant AbbVie of illegal practices to boost sales of Humira, one of the best-selling prescription drugs in the world.
Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones on Tuesday sued the drugmaker in Alameda County, alleging that nurses hired by the company to meet with patients provided misinformation about Humira and kept complaints about the blockbuster drug from getting back to doctors.
Jones said those practices suggest that California insurance companies may have paid claims for Humira for patients who should not have been prescribed the drug in the first place, causing harm not only to patients but also to all California insurance ratepayers.
Between 2013 and this year, California insurers paid at least 274,000 Humira claims, worth more than $1.29 billion, according to the lawsuit.
"AbbVie gambled with the health and safety of thousands of Californians," Jones said. "We allege the entirety of those claims are tainted by this illegal scheme."
The suit alleges a series of what Jones' office called "classic" kickbacks, including cash payments, drinks, meals and patient referrals offered to doctors in exchange for prescribing the drug, an anti-inflammatory medication prescribed for an array of maladies from arthritis and psoriasis to Crohn's disease.
But the focus of the suit is on AbbVie's employment of in-home registered nurses _ "ambassadors," the company calls them _ to teach patients how to use the drug. While the nurses were represented to patients as an extension of the doctor's office, they were trained to tout the drug while downplaying its risks, the state said.
Representatives for AbbVie, based in Lake Bluff, Ill., did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Shares of AbbVie were down 2 percent to $93.05 in afternoon trading.
