Medtronic Payments Under the Microscope

- FDA News

12/06/2007 - In a Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing, Medtronic announced the Senate Finance Committee is requesting information about the company’s financial ties with physicians. The committee also reqeusted information about its decision  to suspend distribution of its Sprint Fidelis family of defibrillation leads. Medtronic said it is cooperating with the requests.

The filing also said Medtronic received a letter in late October from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania requesting documents relating to its relationship with one of its customers and any payments provided to physicians, physician groups, hospitals, medical practices or other entities relating to the purchase of Medtronic’s cardiac resynchronization therapy devices and cardiac stents. Thecompany said it is cooperating with that investigation.

In September, the company received a letter from the SEC requesting information relating to any potential violations of the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act in connection with the sale of medical devices in an unspecified number of foreign countries.

The letter asked for any information concerning certain types of payments made directly or indirectly to government-employed doctors. A number of competitors have publicly disclosed receiving similar letters. In November, the company received a letter from the Justice Department requesting any information provided to the SEC. The company said it intends to cooperate with both requests.

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