Tasigna Replaces Gleevec as the Novartis AGs Signature Anti-Cancer Chemotherapy Drug

Novartis AG marketed Tasigna to specialty pharmacies in the US without advising them of the Canadian health warnings

Wednesday, December 6, 2017 - Sales of anti-cancer drugs Gleevec and Tasigna are major contributors to Novartis AG's bottom line. The official company website, www.novartis.com, states that in 2016, the company earned $3.3 billion from sales of Gleevec and $1.7 billion from sales of Tasigna. The Gleevec sales numbers reflect a 33% decline from 2015 as Novartis marketing reps promoted Tasigna to specialty pharmacies, advising them to switch their patients refill prescriptions from the Gleevec to Tasigna. Such a switch was encouraged by Novartis executives because Gleevec's patent was set to expire later that year and Novartis suspected stiff competition from companies that manufacture cheaper, generic drugs. Gleevec is a revolutionary anti-cancer drug that increased 90% of cancer patient's life expectancy to five years or more. Gleevec is required to be taken daily. Gleevec financial studies at John Hopkins School of Public Health estimate that the annual cost of taking a generic Gleevec replacement drug is only 10% of the popular branded drug. Novartis CEO has called the Gleevec patent expiration the largest in the company's history and represents a transition year for the company.

Rather than lose billions in revenues from cancer patients switching to cheaper generic drugs, Novartis instructed marketing reps to market Gleevec replacement drug Tasigna to specialty pharmacies. Specialty pharmacies are those that sell only prescription drugs that have potentially deadly side effects and are held to the highest ethical standard. The company used questionable sales tactics telling doctors that the Tasigna was safer and more effective than Gleevec in treating Chronic Myeloid Leukemia, a rare and deadly form of bone cancer. Novartis also conducted a fraudulent cash kickback scheme where phony drug education clinics were set up to pay pharmacists to educate doctors on the benefits of using Tasigna. Illegal sales contests were also in place to reward pharmacies that sold the most Tasigna every month by switching patient's refill prescription from the Gleevec the were expecting to Tasigna. As a result of the deception, company whistleblower, and former sales manager, in conjunction with the U.S. Department of Justice, sued Novartis under the False Claims Act. The False Claims act encourages employees of drug companies to come forward and to report questionable activities within the company. Doing so can save taxpayers millions in fraudulent Medicaid and Medicare costs. Novartis was fined 3.3 billion dollars in 2015 by the US Department of Justice and settled the suit for $390 million. It was determined that the company misrepresented the drug to specialty pharmacies.

Novartis sales practices never mentioned the fact that Canadian Health authorities had issued a Tasigna warning to the country's medical professionals warning them that they had found a connection between Tasigna and a patient developing atherosclerosis and peripheral artery disease that caused sudden death, paralysis and amputations.

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