Kentucky Medicaid program gets money from Botox settlement

9:04pm on Oct 4, 2010; Modified: 9:05pm on Oct 4, 2010

Kentucky's Medicaid program will get $132,108 as part of a settlement with Botox manufacturer Allergan USA over allegations of deceptive and illegal marketing of Botox, state Attorney General Jack Conway announced Monday.

Allergan has agreed to pay $225 million to resolve civil and criminal claims that it persuaded doctors to submit false claims to the Medicaid program and paid illegal kickbacks to doctors to get them to prescribe Botox for off-label uses.

It was alleged that Allergan told doctors how to falsify Medicaid claims by using inapplicable diagnosis and billing codes to ensure payment, and that it illegally promoted Botox as a safe and effective treatment for headaches, pain, spasticity and overactive bladder, even though the Food and Drug Administration hadn't approved it for those uses.

Kentucky's share of the settlement is $472,249 — double the amount the state Medicaid program spent on prescriptions written as a result of the company's off-label marketing.

After reimbursing the federal government for its contribution, the state Medicaid program will keep $132,108 of the settlement proceeds.

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