Press Release  AG Campbell Secures $1.6 Million For Massachusetts In Multi-State Settlement With Pharmaceutical Company

Boston — Massachusetts Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell announced today that Massachusetts, alongside other states and the federal government, has reached an agreement with California-based pharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences, Inc. (“Gilead”) to settle allegations that they paid kickbacks to providers to improperly promote their HIV drugs.

As part of the settlement, Gilead will pay the states and the federal government a total of $202 million. Approximately $49 million of the settlement will go to the states’ Medicaid programs to resolve allegations that Gilead’s unlawful promotion of their HIV drugs caused false claims to be submitted to the programs. Massachusetts will receive $1.6 million under the agreement.

“When a company pays kickbacks to health care providers to increase its own bottom line, it not only violates our laws; it also places an unfair burden on our crucial taxpayer-funded health care system relied upon by thousands of Massachusetts residents,” said AG Campbell. “This settlement puts pharmaceutical companies on notice that we will not tolerate unlawful behavior.” 

The settlement resolves allegations that from 2011 to 2017, Gilead paid kickbacks in the form of meals, travel expenses, and honoraria payments to healthcare practitioners who spoke at or attended Gilead events to unlawfully influence them to prescribe Gilead HIV drugs. In doing so, Gilead violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and caused providers to submit false claims for Gilead HIV drugs that were the result of these kickbacks to the state’s Medicaid programs. As part of the settlement, Gilead made extensive factual admissions regarding its conduct.

This settlement arises from a lawsuit originally filed in 2016 in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York under the federal False Claims Act and various state false claims statutes. 

A National Association of Medicaid Fraud Control Units (NAMFCU) Team participated in the investigation and conducted the settlement negotiations with Gilead on behalf of the states. For Massachusetts, this matter was handled by Assistant Attorneys General Kevin O’Keefe and Scott Grannemann, both of the AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division, with assistance from MassHealth. 

Joining Attorney General Campbell in securing settlements with Gilead are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The AGO’s Medicaid Fraud Division is a Medicaid Fraud Control Unit, annually certified by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to investigate and prosecute health care providers who defraud the state’s Medicaid program, MassHealth. The Medicaid Fraud Division also has jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute complaints of abuse, neglect and financial exploitation of residents in long-term care facilities and of Medicaid patients in any health care setting. Individuals may file a MassHealth fraud complaint or report cases of abuse or neglect of Medicaid patients or long-term care residents by visiting the AGO’s website.   

The Massachusetts Medicaid Fraud Division receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $5,922,320 for federal fiscal year 2025. The remaining 25 percent, totaling $1,974,102 for FY 2025, is funded by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

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