Cephalon Gets U.S. Justice Department Subpoena for Top-Sellers
October 4th, 2011 // 1:43 pm @ jmpickett
Cephalon Inc. (CEPH) received a subpoena from the U.S. Justice Department asking for information about the marketing of Nuvigil and Provigil, the company’s best- selling medicines to promote wakefulness.
Cephalon, based in Frazer, Pennsylvania, said it will fully cooperate and is responding to the request, which was disclosed in a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.
Nuvigil is the subject of a $3.6 million radio campaign by Cephalon, as reported by Bloomberg Businessweek last month. The advertising promotes the drug’s ability to help shift workers stay alert on the job without impeding their ability to sleep during the day. The company also is spending $490,000 on an Internet campaign featuring the “Wake-Up Squad†and informational booths at community events to promote Nuvigil.
The subpoena focuses on a “limited number†of promotional activities that the company fully vetted to make sure they complied with all laws and regulations, said Natalie deVane, a company spokeswoman, in an e-mailed statement. Cephalon has fulfilled all of the requirements under a five-year corporate integrity agreement it entered into in 2008 and will continue to do so, she said.
