BOSTON (Reuters) – Sanofi SA has agreed to pay $11.85 million to resolve U.S. allegations that it used a charity that helps cowl Medicare sufferers’ out-of-pocket drug prices as a method to pay them kickbacks to make use of a high-priced a number of sclerosis drug.

The deal, introduced by the U.S. Justice Division on Friday, was the most recent to outcome from an industry-wide probe of drugmakers’ monetary help of affected person help charities that has resulted in additional than $865 million in settlements.

The federal government mentioned Sanofi offered funds to at least one such charity, The Help Fund, not with a charitable goal in thoughts however as an alternative to make use of it as a method to cowl the co-pay obligations of Medicare sufferers utilizing the MS drug Lemtrada.

TAF like different charities within the probe present help to sufferers searching for to pay out-of-pocket prices for drugs. Sanofi, whose drug prices practically $100,000 per 12 months per affected person, made funds to the charity from 2015 to 2016, the division mentioned.

“Sanofi used a supposed charity as a conduit to funnel cash to sufferers taking Sanofi’s very costly drug, all on the expense of the Medicare program,” U.S. Legal professional Andrew Lelling in Boston mentioned in a press release.

Sanofi didn’t admit wrongdoing as a part of the settlement. The drugmaker in a press release defended the apply of offering monetary help to such charitable organizations, saying it “believes these packages assist sufferers lead more healthy lives.”

Drug firms are prohibited from subsidizing co-payments for sufferers enrolled within the authorities’s Medicare healthcare program for these aged 65 and older. Corporations might donate to non-profits offering co-pay help so long as they’re unbiased.

However the authorities has alleged that varied drugmakers have used charities like Orlando, Florida-based TAF as means to improperly pay the co-pay obligations of Medicare sufferers utilizing their medication, in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.

The investigation, led by the U.S. lawyer’s workplace in Boston, got here amid rising consideration to hovering U.S. drug costs. Co-pays are partly meant to function a examine on healthcare bills by exposing sufferers to a few of a medication’s price.

TAF didn’t instantly reply to a request for touch upon Friday. It reached a separate $four million settlement with the federal government in November resolving comparable allegations involving three different pharmaceutical firms.