Roche sues U.S. executives in fight over diabetes test strips

[March 21, 2019]  ZURICH (Reuters) - Roche is seeking tens of millions of dollars in damages and compensation in a U.S. lawsuit against former executives of a Utah-based company, the Swiss drugmaker's latest case targeting what it calls fraudulent schemes involving its diabetes test strips.

"Defendants caused Roche to wrongfully pay over $87 million in rebates and to lose a similar amount of sales of retail strips," according to Roche's complaint filed in U.S. District Court in New Jersey on Tuesday against more than a dozen defendants including Jeffrey C. Smith, chief executive at Utah's Alliance Medical Holdings until 2017.

Smith did not immediately return phone calls and e-mails seeking comment.

(Reporting by John Miller; Editing by Michael Shields)

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