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Valeant pays $54 million to settle U.S. kickback, fraud claims

By Jonathan Stempel NEW YORK (Reuters) – Valeant Pharmaceuticals International Inc will pay $54 million to settle civil charges that its Salix unit paid illegal kickbacks to induce doctors to prescribe seven of its products, causing the submission of thousands of fraudulent reimbursement claims to the U.S. government. The accord announced on Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice covers alleged improper activity at the former Salix Pharmaceuticals Inc from 2009 to 2013, predating its April 2015 acquisition by Valeant for more than $11 billion. Salix admitted and accepted responsibility for routinely paying doctors hundreds or thousands of dollars, or offering perks including lavish meals at restaurants such as Le Bernardin and Nobu, to attend some of its roughly 10,000 “speaker programs,” including many with little or no educational value.