Adam Brosius, a former pharmacy executive, was recently sentenced to 24 months in prison and ordered to pay $33 million in restitution and $27 million in forfeiture.
Brosius was the director and then the president of Main Avenue Pharmacy, a mail-order pharmacy based in Clifton, New Jersey. He orchestrated a complex kickback scheme in which the pharmacy identified high-profit compounded drug formulas and distributed pre-printed prescription pads featuring those medications to marketing companies nationwide. The marketers worked with telemedicine providers who ordered the drugs, often for medically unnecessary treatments.
Once prescriptions were issued and filled, Main Avenue Pharmacy billed healthcare insurers, including Medicare, TRICARE, and private payors. After receiving payments, the pharmacy funneled kickbacks to marketers. Main Avenue Pharmacy actually had signed contracts with many of the marketers, detailing the unlawful arrangements in which each marketer was paid based on the volume of referrals of compounded prescriptions and the reimbursement amount that the pharmacy received.
The case reminds providers to exercise great caution when working with pharmaceutical marketers.
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