A Medical Device Daily
Immucor (Norcross, Georgia) reported the settlement of the charges against its Italian subsidiary related to allegedly improper payments to an Italian physician.
Immucor reported in March that the former head of its Italian subsidiary told the company that he would appeal an Italian judge’s decision that he made illegal payments to physicians (Medical Device Daily, March 1, 2006).
On Jan. 18, the judge approved a plea bargain agreement under which the subsidiary is required to pay a total of roughly $122,000 in fines, penalties, and restitution to a hospital at which the physician worked, the company said.
The related charges against Dr. Gioacchino De Chirico, the company’s president/CEO, and former president of the subsidiary, have now been sent forward to trial, Immucor said. It said that De Chirico indicates he will contest any charges against him, and the company expects the trial and related appeals to continue “for an extended period of time.”
Immucor said that along with De Chirico it is still seeking to settle the investigation by the Securities Exchange Commission “in the near term.”
Immucor makes reagents and systems used by hospitals, reference laboratories and donor centers to identify certain properties of the cell and serum components of blood prior to transfusion.