`Illegal` payments for prescription opioids under review, says health minister
(The Star Travel)

The Ontario government is investigating allegations that a drug company offered pharmacies “illegal” payments to stock its opioid medications fentanyl and oxycodone.Reacting to the findings of a Star investigation, Health Minister Eric Hoskins said he has ordered a probe into drug giant Teva. The Star has obtained emails showing a Teva corporate accounts manager offering to pay an Ontario-based pharmacy group a rate of 15 per cent of the drug price if it stocked the company’s prescription opioids. In seeking comment from the government as part of its investigation, the Star provided a description of the Teva manager’s emails, but to protect the source of the information the Star did not share the actual documents.Payments to induce a pharmacy to stock a company’s drugs are known in the industry as rebates and can come as financial payments, gift cards and free trips. They are illegal in Ontario.Teva’s conduct is already under scrutiny after professional misconduct charges were laid last year against two Costco pharmacy directors who are accused of accepting unlawful rebates from Teva, which makes generic drugs, and four other pharmaceutical companies.“Rebates provided by drug manufacturers to pharmacies are illegal. I take any allegations of non-compliance with these rules very seriously and have asked the Ministry to look into these allegations,” Hoskins said in a statement, responding to the Star’s questions about the Teva emails.A Teva spokesperson would not comment on specific allegations, but said the company follows all laws and regulations in places it does business.“We prohibit the offering of product-related rebates to Ontario-based customers and provide ongoing training to all employees to ensure we continue to operate our business in a legal and ethical manner,” the spokesperson said.“Teva Canada Ltd. will co-operate fully with any investigation by the Ontario Ministry of Health a ...