Priority Healthcare Corp. agreed to pay $43 million to Roche to settle a lawsuit claiming the pharmacy operator fraudulently obtained more than $30 million in rebates from Roche, according to news site AL.com.
Priority Healthcare operates pharmacies and related businesses in Alabama and Mississippi. It allegedly billed insurance companies for Roche's glucose test strips — used by patients with diabetes to test their blood sugar levels — that either weren't shipped to patients or cost more than the supplies they received, AL.com reported. Employees of Priority Healthcare allegedly then sought rebates from Roche.
Roche paid $30 million to $32 million in fraudulent rebates to Priority Healthcare, court documents show.
Witnesses from Priority Healthcare testified that proceeds from the scheme were kept in shell company accounts, according to AL.com.
Roche's attorneys claimed that Priority Healthcare's owners, Phillip and Konie Minga, led the scheme. The company allegedly shifted orders between various pharmacies to hide evidence of fraud, AL.com reported.
Priority Healthcare is banned from purchasing or selling Roche's Accu-chek test strips.
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