FRIDAY, June 14, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- The two top officers of a telehealth company that began to distribute ADHD drugs widely during the pandemic have been charged with health care fraud, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.
The arrests will likely worsen ongoing shortages of Adderall and another ADHD medications, Vyvanse, experts said. “There are a lot of people who are going to be struggling without consistent medication,” Margaret Sibley , an associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, told the New York Times . In announcing the charges , the Justice Department said the chief executive and the clinical president of the California-based telehealth company Done Global Inc.
are accused of participating in a scheme to distribute Adderall and other stimulants for ADHD to patients who did not need the medications, and to bill insurers for these drugs. “These defendants exploited the COVID-19 pandemic to develop and carry out a $100 million scheme to defraud taxpayers and provide easy access to Adderall and other stimulants for no legitimate medical purpose,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a news release. Done was one of several telehealth companies that became popular during pandemic lockdowns in 2020, when the government relaxed restrictions for online prescriptions for controlled substances such as Adderall, the Times reported.
In its indictment , the Justice Depart.
