Pharmacist at center of scandal accuses Valeant of "massive fraud"
Nov 1 2015, 12:10 ET | About: Valeant Pharmaceutica... (VRX) | By: Eli Hoffmann, CEO, SA News Editor
After selling his "local pharmacy" to a company tied to Philidor, a mail-order pharmacy with close ties to Valeant (NYSE:VRX), for $350K last year, pharmacist Russell Reitz began finding his national pharmacy license number on an avalanche of prescriptions nationwide.
National sales for the tiny pharmacy were suddenly tracking at $230M/year.
Many of Valeant's expensive brand-name medicines are similar to generic medicines available for far less. Insurers often require druggists to switch to the generic, causing Valeant to lose the sale. To get around this, Valeant has been distributing coupons that allow patients to lower or even avoid a co-pay if they ordered the drugs through Philidor.
Reitz stopped sending Philidor the millions of dollars in checks that he was receiving from insurers for prescription shipments, in order to protect himself from "massive potential" liability. On Sept. 4, VRX sent a letter to Reitz, demanding $69M it said the small-town pharmacist owed.
Nov 1 2015, 12:10 ET | About: Valeant Pharmaceutica... (VRX) | By: Eli Hoffmann, CEO, SA News Editor
After selling his "local pharmacy" to a company tied to Philidor, a mail-order pharmacy with close ties to Valeant (NYSE:VRX), for $350K last year, pharmacist Russell Reitz began finding his national pharmacy license number on an avalanche of prescriptions nationwide.
National sales for the tiny pharmacy were suddenly tracking at $230M/year.
Many of Valeant's expensive brand-name medicines are similar to generic medicines available for far less. Insurers often require druggists to switch to the generic, causing Valeant to lose the sale. To get around this, Valeant has been distributing coupons that allow patients to lower or even avoid a co-pay if they ordered the drugs through Philidor.
Reitz stopped sending Philidor the millions of dollars in checks that he was receiving from insurers for prescription shipments, in order to protect himself from "massive potential" liability. On Sept. 4, VRX sent a letter to Reitz, demanding $69M it said the small-town pharmacist owed.