Eli Lilly allegedly paid health care providers to recommend and prescribe weight loss drugs, according to a new complaint.
An Eli Lilly program that makes available free nursing services to providers who prescribe the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medications illegally induces providers to prescribe the drugs, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said in a lawsuit filed on Aug. 12 in a district court in Harrison County.
Another program, which gives providers who recommend and prescribe Eli Lilly’s GLP-1 medications help with completing tasks related to drug prescriptions, also violates state law, Paxton said.
The Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act states in part that people may not offer or pay “any remuneration, including any kickback, bribe, or rebate, in cash or in kind to induce a person to purchase, lease, or order, or arrange for or recommend the purchase, lease or order of, any good, facility, service, or item for which payment may be made, in whole or in part, under the medical assistance program.”…