The Serious Fraud Office gains its first conviction under the U.K. Bribery Act, Sanofi is charged with kickback violations, and CMS unveils new tools and user guides in the Open Payments system.
Well, we’re smack dab in the middle of it now. There’s no escaping the mire, so just give in and go with the flow. The Christmas shopping season is in full swing. Daily Doorbuster specials, circling the mall parking lot repeatedly looking for a space to park…yes, the joys of the season are upon us. As you lick your wounds from another weekend of retail madness and mayhem, we offer a brief respite, with this week’s Compliance News in Review.
Gift giving is certainly a joy of this season, but you don’t want it to land you on the naughty list during an FCPA investigation. This list of ten tips to consider when giving business gifts can help keep a company on the nice list. Tips include making sure the gift is permitted under the local law where the recipients is based and recording gifts routinely in company books and records.
The Serious Fraud Office (SFO) has tied a bow around its first conviction under the U.K. Bribery Act. Two individuals were found guilty in a case that involved the sale of biofuel investment interests to U.K. investors. The defendants were found to have created fake invoices that allowed them to collect large commissions from the investors. Legal experts say the case makes it clear that the SFO will pursue individuals for private sector bribery.
Sanofi, its former CEO, and several other executives have been accused of overfilling the stockings of doctors, pharmacists and hospitals. A whistleblower suit, filed by a former Sanofi paralegal, claims she was fired when she raised concerns over several contracts that paid consultants to pass along kickbacks to doctors, pharmacies and hospitals. The kickbacks were allegedly offered in return for prescribing or purchasing the company’s diabetes drug. Former CEO, Chris Viehbacher said the accusations are “entirely baseless and are categorically false.” The company says it will vigorously defend the suit.
AstraZeneca and Ranbaxy won’t need to return the present they received in a pay-for-delay case. A jury decided that a deal between the two companies, which delayed a generic version of Nexium, was large and unjustified, but was not anticompetitive. A Ranbaxy spokesperson stated “the jury understood the facts of the case and was not swayed by wishful thinking on the part of the plaintiffs.”
CMS donned the Santa cap as it handed out several “gifts” last week for Open Payments users. The agency released an improved physician and manufacturer search tool, updated physician lists and revised user guides. CMS also announced it would soon provide reference information for the 2014 program year, including an overview of the timeline and updates on system enhancements.
If new commercial compliance training is on your holiday wish list, PharmaCertify™ from NXLevel Solutions, offers updated training on critical topics like global transparency, the Anti-kickback Statute, on-label promotion, and the False Claims Act. To see a demo of our eLearning modules and mobile apps, contact Sean Murphy at smurphy@nxlevelsolutions.com
That’s all for this week folks. Stay safe out there, and we’ll see you back here next week!
