(CNN) Two whistleblowers at a pharmaceutical company responsible for one of the largest drug price increases in US history said the company bribed doctors and their staffs to increase sales, according to newly unsealed documents in federal court. The effort, the whistleblowers said in a lawsuit against the company, was part of an intentional "multi-tiered strategy" by Questcor Pharmaceuticals, now Mallinckrodt, to boost sales of H.P. The bombshell allegations lay bare what the whistleblowers say was a culture designed to sell the drug at all costs, from lying to the Food and Drug Administration to offering bribes to doctors. Sales representatives were compensated royally for increased sales, the suit said, with lucrative monthly bonuses designed to promote a "sell at all cost" mentality. The price hike puts it among the most dramatic drug price increases in the nation's history, said Stephen Schondelmeyer, director of the PRIME Institute, a research organization that studies economic and policy issues related to pharmaceuticals.

Source: CNN April 30, 2019 08:48 UTC