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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday announced a lawsuit alleging that Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) bribed his state’s medical providers in a bid to persuade them to prescribe the company’s weight loss therapy Zepbound and other medications.
According to the lawsuit, the Indiana-based pharma giant offered illegal incentives such as “free nurses” and reimbursement support services to encourage medical providers to prescribe its treatments, including its GLP-1 treatments Mounjaro and Zepbound.
The lawsuit alleges that Eli Lilly (NYSE:LLY) violated the Texas Health Care Program Fraud Prevention Act, as the Texas Medicaid program had to reimburse millions of dollars in claims for prescriptions issued in connection with the incentive program.
“Big Pharma compromised medical decision-making by engaging in an illegal kickback scheme,” Paxton said in a statement. “Eli Lilly fraudulently sought to maximize profits at taxpayer expense and put corporate greed over people’s health. I will not stand by while corporations unlawfully manipulate our healthcare system to line their own pockets.”
Paxton filed the suit with Relator Health Choice Alliance in a U.S. District Court in Harrison County, Texas, on Monday.
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