Florida health care clinics and pharmacies accused of stealing MILLIONS worth of HIV meds

Florida health care clinics and pharmacies accused of stealing MILLIONS of dollars by making fraudulent claims for HIV medication and selling them on the black market

  • Pharma giant Gilead alleges that it was the victim of a widespread fraud scheme in Florida that cost in tens of millions of dollars
  • The California-based company says that pharmacies and health clinics in the Sunshine state took advantage of its distribution of HIV prevention drugs
  • The alleged fraudsters recruited homeless people, and others, to do wellness checks that would earn them the drugs
  • Freely distributed drugs were then repackaged by the alleged fraudsters, and sold on the black market 

Pharmaceutical giant Gilead is alleging that it is the victim of a massive healthcare fraud scheme that played out in the state of Florida.

The Bay Area-based company alleges that health care clinics and pharmacies in the Sunshine State took advantage of its free distribution of the HIV prevention drug Truvada, a preexposure prophylaxis (PrEP), to illegally obtain the drug for free and sell it on the black market. 

The company accuses the firms of enrolling uninsured people – and even recruiting homeless people – in the scheme to obtain the drugs.

Medication was then illegally distributed, sometimes on the black market, costing the pharma giant millions. On Wednesday, it won a court order that could order it to be repaid millions of dollars.

The massive pharma company Gilead is alleging that it program that allows uninsured people to access the HIV drug Truvada was abused as part of a wide-scale fraud scheme in Florida (file photo)

The company alleges that its ‘Advancing Access Medication Assistance Program’ program was abused as part of the scheme.

Gilead distributed Truvada for free to people who are uninsured and suffer a risk of contracting HIV.

The drug works by preventing the HIV virus from replicating in the body, killing infected cells and stopping the development of AIDS.

It is often used by gay and bisexual men, along with others who may have a partner that is at risk of being infected.

Those who qualify are distributed the drug for free as a part of a larger effort by the company to prevent the spread of HIV and AIDS. 

In 2019, the company started to notice discrepancies in the amount of the drugs being distributed in the state, the first tell that something was wrong.

After investigation, and reports from whistleblowers, the company became aware of the scheme. 

Workers at pharmacies, medical labs and health care clinics across the state were recruiting homeless people and others who needed money to submit a wellness check that would qualify them for the drugs.

Gilead would then send the drugs to the pharmacy, for the person who was recruited to use.

Instead, though, the company would repackage and distribute the drugs. Either selling it themselves through the pharmacy, or illegally on the black market, the company alleges.

The company alleges that pharmacies, health care clinics, and others recruited people to take part in fraudulent checks to get the medication. Then, the fraudsters would repackage and sell the medicine, sometimes on the black market (file photo)

The company alleges that pharmacies, health care clinics, and others recruited people to take part in fraudulent checks to get the medication. Then, the fraudsters would repackage and sell the medicine, sometimes on the black market (file photo)

Gilead is seeking tens of millions in damages from 58 defendants named in a November 2020 lawsuit.

It also specifically blames some ‘Kingpins’, deemed to be most responsible for the scheme – and having benefited the most from it.

The company alleges that these figures purchased luxury items like cars, real estate and private jets using the money defrauded from it.

A motion to freeze all assets of these Kingpins was granted this month, and a Miami court has now demanded a full list of all of their assets.

This is the second major fraud case Gilead has uncovered surrounding its HIV drug in recent years.

In 2020, the company discovered over 80,000 bottles of one of its HIV drugs was being counterfeited and sold to pharmacies around the country.

The revelation led to a federal investigation, with law enforcement officials eventually cracking down on the counterfeiters and seizing thousands of pill bottles. 

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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk