Amgen Sued Over Marketing Scheme

In its latest quarterly report to the Securities and Exchange Commission, Amgen revealed that it has received subpoenas from U.S. attorneys in New York and Washington State, and has been sued by a union health fund over an alleged illegal marketing scheme. According to this Associated Press article, the lawsuit says Amgen engaged in an “anticompetitive tying arrangement and pricing scheme” involving the sale of Neupogen and Neulasta, used against the side effects of chemotherapy, and Aranesp, an anemia drug.

The details of the alleged illegal bundling scheme were contained in GoozNews posts here and here.

Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal (subscription required, although not for long) this morning documents Amgen's extensive lobbying efforts to roll back the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services cancer drugs payment policy, which will limit excessive use of Aranesp and Johnson & Johnson's Procrit because they have been shown to be unsafe at the higher doses needed to raise red blood cell counts to the near normal range.