Three more drug makers allegedly relied on schemes in which nurses were used to illegally promote its diabetes medicines to physicians, according to recently unsealed lawsuits. The documents describe how Gilead Sciences (GILD), Amgen (AMGN), and Bayer Pharmaceuticals (BAYRY) hired nurses to talk up treatments to doctors and their patients, an arrangement that purportedly violated federal kickback laws.
The companies avoided concerns that sales reps might get little to no face time with doctors and simultaneously helped save physicians from the expense of providing follow-up care, according to the lawsuit. The approach is sometimes known as “white coat marketing,” which the lawsuit noted is considered problematic by authorities because it may blur trust between doctors and patients.
In each lawsuit, the drug makers allegedly used various means to improperly use nurses to promote their medicines. One way supposedly involved using a third party to deploy nurse educators to tout drugs. The companies also provided free nurses and reimbursement support services to save physicians money and to induce them to prescribe their medicines, according to the lawsuits (here is one and here is the other).
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