...Serono Laboratories, Inc. pled guilty today to two counts of conspiracy and agreed to pay $704 million dollars to settle one of the largest health care fraud cases in US history...

The fine paid is the single largest Medicaid fraud case on record and was related to an ongoing fraud perpetrated by 5 former sales representatives who offered kickbacks to doctors for prescribing Serostim, a patented AIDs related medication. The fraud ran from 1996 to the present and the award represents the gross profits of the company in selling the drug over that time to Medicaid recipients.

The scam came to light after 5 employees of the company filed suits claiming violations of the false claims laws, and they will share a $75 million allocation as part of their whistle blower action.

Click on over and check out Mark's full post replete with links to supporting articles. While yout there, take some time to review his excellent coverage of the recent maneuvers relating to the ongoing Vioxx litigation.

-- MDT