California sues Amgen for alleged kickbacks to boost anemia drug sales

California has joined New York and 13 other states in a federal lawsuit filed Friday against biotechnology giant Amgen. The suit alleges that the Thousand Oaks company gave kickbacks to health care providers to boost flagging sales of its anemia drug.

Amgen has sold $11 billion worth of its anemia drug Aranesp since 2001. But in the last couple of years the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has raised questions about the drug’s safety and sales have sagged.

The multi-state lawsuit against Amgen alleges that the company paid kickbacks to medical providers to boost prescriptions of Aranesp. The suit also accuses Amgen of encouraging those providers to bill third parties, including Medicaid, when they give patients free samples of the drug.

The lawsuit alleges California and other states paid thousands of fraudulent claims and their Medicaid programs suffered millions of dollars in damages.

Amgen did not agree to a recorded interview, but issued a statement saying “The allegations are without merit.”