Moves to bar Forest CEO from US health care contracts dropped by HHS-OIG

In a week of high-profile activity for US drugmaker Forest Laboratories (NYSE: FRX), there was welcome news on Friday in that the US Office of the Inspector General, Department of Health and Human Services (HHS-OIG) notified Howard Solomon, Forest’s chairman, chief executive and president, that the regulators had decided not to pursue his exclusion from federal health care programs, such as Medicare and Medicaid.

As previously disclosed, Mr Solomon was notified that HHS-OIG was considering his exclusion in connection with matters that were settled by Forest in 2010 (The Pharma Letter April 15). Friday afternoon, Mr Solomon received notification in a letter from HHS-OIG that it had decided not to seek his exclusion.

Last year, Forest Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of Forest Laboratories, entered into a plea agreement in which the company accepted responsibility for criminal actions including distribution of an unapproved new drug, distribution of a misbranded drug and obstruction of a Food and Drug Administration inspection (TPL September 16, 2010).To resolve these charges and a related civil suit, Forest has agreed to pay more than $300 million, including $164 million in criminal penalties. This plea agreement was the culmination of a multi-year investigation conducted by the FDA’s Office of Criminal Investigations in cooperation with its law enforcement partners and the US Attorney’s Office for the District of Massachusetts.