HIV DRUG COMPANIES WAGED PHYSICIAN KICKBACK WAR

According to a whistleblower lawsuit, the HIV drug makers Gilead and Pfizer and its subsidiary Aouron waged an illegal bidding war over bribes paid to doctors in Brooklyn where prices reached over $100,000 per physician. The whistleblower, former sales representative David Moore says that Gilead is an AIDS drug specialty company and has produced such drugs as Atripla and Truvada, considered the best, standard therapy for HIV. When Pfizer and others, says More, began linking payment to physicians based on whether they prescribed the drug, Gilead was forced to do the sae just to keep the doctors using the standard in the field. the suit alleges that the kickbacks were paid in the form of consultant fees, excessive honoraria for speaking at educatinal seminars and in other ways. Gilead has asked a Federal Court in California to sanction Moore for allegedly wiping out his computer hard drives thus destroying evidence. Moore says that doctors got an average of $10,000 per year. One physician at the Brooklyn Hospital received an unrestricted educational grant of $100,000.