N.J. pharmaceutical giant’s charitable giving part of scheme … – NJ.com

One of the nation’s largest pharmaceutical companies, located in Summit, has been accused of driving up the price of one of its most popular cancer drugs by colluding with charities that help patients pay for their prescriptions, according to a report by Bloomberg Monday.

Celgene has donated at least $ 50 million a year to the Patient Access Network Foundation and the Chronic Disease Fund, according to a former Celgene sales representative Beverly Brown’s whistleblower lawsuit against the company.

The company then coordinated with the charities to steer donations to patients taking Revlimid to help cover their co-pays, “as part of a core business scheme to gain billions,” according to the lawsuit.

The blood cancer drug can run patients $ 10,000 a year, or $ 644 a dose, and is one of the most expensive drugs on the market according to the report.

Federal anti-kickback laws prohibit pharmaceutical companies from giving to Medicare beneficiaries directly, but they are permitted to contribute to independently run patient charities. 

Celgene spokesman Brian Gill told Bloomberg Brown’s “allegations are baseless,” and denied their was any coordination.

One of the company’s “core values is to ensure that cancer patients have access to medicines they need,” according to Bloomberg citing Celgene’s court filing in response to the lawsuit. Criticism aimed at its donations is “a classic example of ‘no good deed shall go unpunished.”

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An expert witness in Brown’s case, a professor of pharmaceutical economics and policy at the University of Southern California, examined contracts between Celgene and the two patient charities, and found evidence that “strongly indicates (the charities) provided Celgene with the information it needed to be sure it would fully fund all co-pays needed for its products and that it successfully aligned its funding to achieve this goal.”

Celgene reported $ 9.3 billion in revenue last year, according to Bloomberg.

The U.S. Justice Department is separately investigating pharmaceutical companies’ relationships with patient-assistance charities. 

Susan K. Livio may be reached at slivio@njadvancemedia.com. Follow her on Twitter @SusanKLivio. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.