The TAP Pharmaceutical Acquittals

Multi-Pronged Conspiracy

Drawing far less attention was the related indictment of six TAP managers from five states as well as a Massachusetts urologist. Five other TAP employees were later charged under what Judge Learned Hand once described as the “darling of the prosecutor's nursery” — the general federal conspiracy statute. The three-pronged count alleged a broad conspiracy to defraud Medicare, to violate the Anti-Kickback statute, and to violate the Prescription Drug Marketing Act (PDMA). The Medicare prong alleged that TAP failed to charge its best price, while the anti-kickback prong alleged that TAP gave things of value, including free samples, “educational grants,” trips to resorts, free consulting services, medical equipment and forgiveness of debt to physicians and others to generate Lupron prescriptions for Medicare beneficiaries. The PDMA prong alleged that TAP caused thousands of free samples worth over $400 each to be billed to Medicare. Boston prosecutors had already negotiated guilty pleas with three urologists, obligating them to testify in what became the biggest health care trial in the country in 2004.