Attorney General Bonta Helps Secure Over $200 Million from Gilead Sciences for Paying Illegal Kickbacks

California will receive more than $4 million from multistate settlement in principle

OAKLAND – California Attorney General Rob Bonta today joined a coalition of 48 other attorneys general in securing $202 million from Gilead Sciences, Inc. (Gilead), for running an illegal kickback scheme to promote its HIV medications. Gilead allegedly violated federal law by illegally providing incentives – including awards, meals, and travel expenses – to healthcare providers to prescribe Gilead’s medications, resulting in millions of dollars of false claims submitted to government health care programs, including Medi-Cal. The settlement in principle, reached in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice and approved by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, provides $49 million for Medicaid programs nationwide, including $4,118,184 for California, with the remainder going to Medicare, Tricare, and the AIDS Drug Assistance Program (ADAP).   

“The best interests of patients must always come first,” said Attorney General Bonta. “At this time of unprecedented funding cuts to Medicaid, it is particularly important to protect the program from illegal kick-back schemes that harm the program and patients alike. Today’s settlement returns critical funding to our communities and programs like Medicaid that keep them healthy.” 

From January 2011 to November 2017, Gilead allegedly violated federal anti-kickback laws by providing gifts to healthcare providers who attended and spoke at promotional speaker programs for Gilead’s HIV drugs: Stribild, Genvoya, Complera, Odefsey, Descovy, and Biktarvy. Gilead paid high-volume prescribers tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars to present as “HIV Speakers.” The company also covered travel expenses for speakers, including those traveling long distances and to attractive destinations, such as Hawaii, Miami, and New Orleans, and hosted dinners at high-end restaurants.

Gilead’s internal compliance mechanisms failed to halt these violations. The company’s internal policies and procedures failed to prevent its sales representatives from improperly offering incentives to induce prescriptions.

Joining Attorney General Bonta in securing settlements with Gilead are the attorneys general of Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.

The Division of Medi-Cal Fraud and Elder Abuse receives 75 percent of its funding from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services under a grant award totaling $69,244,976 for Federal fiscal year (FY) 2025. The remaining 25 percent is funded by the State of California. FY 2025 is from October 1, 2024 through September 30, 2025.