Press Releases
02/04/2025
Attorney General Tong Announces $59 Million False Claims Settlement with Pfizer-Owned Biohaven
(Hartford, CT) -- Attorney General William Tong announced today that Connecticut has joined the United States, 37 other states and Puerto Rico in settling kickback allegations against Biohaven Pharmaceutical Holding Company Ltd. (“Biohaven”), a subsidiary wholly owned by pharmaceutical company Pfizer, Inc. (“Pfizer”). Pfizer has agreed to pay, on behalf of Biohaven, $59,746,277.54, plus interest, to resolve allegations that Biohaven knowingly submitted or caused to be submitted false claims to the Medicaid program and other federal healthcare programs by paying kickbacks to health care providers (“Providers”) in the form of cash, lavish meals, and honoraria payments to induce them to prescribe Biohaven’s product, Nurtec ODT (“Nurtec”), a prescription medication for the treatment of migraine headaches. As part of the settlement, Connecticut will receive $64,233 in restitution and other recoveries.The case against Biohaven was initiated by a whistleblower, Patricia Frattasio, a former employee of Biohaven, who will receive a portion of the settlement. The case is captioned United States et al. ex rel. Frattasio v. Biohaven Pharmaceuticals Holding Company Ltd., Case No. 6:21-CV-06539 and was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York.
The settlement resolves allegations that from March 1, 2020 through September 30, 2022, Biohaven paid kickbacks to providers to present at speaker programs to induce them to prescribe Nurtec for Medicaid and other federal healthcare beneficiaries, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS), 42 U.S.C. § 1320a- 7b(b). Biohaven paid some providers tens of thousands of dollars, and in some cases more than a hundred thousand dollars, for these speaker programs. In numerous instances, speaker programs were also attended by individuals such as the speaker’s spouse, family members and friends, who had no educational need to attend. Also, certain providers who attended multiple programs on the same topic, and received expensive meals and drinks paid for by Biohaven, received no educational benefit from attending these programs.
“Biohaven paid illegal kickbacks in the form of lucrative speaker fees to unlawfully induce doctors to prescribe their drug. I want to thank the whistleblower for bringing these serious allegations forward, and our state and federal partners for this strong action to protect our public healthcare dollars,” said Attorney General Tong.
A National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (“NAMFCU”) Team investigated the allegations in conjunction with the Department of Justice and the United States Attorney’s Office in New York. The NAMFCU Team included representatives from the Offices of the Attorneys General for the states of Florida, New York, California, and Virginia.
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Media Contact:
Elizabeth Benton
elizabeth.benton@ct.gov
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