A former Biogen Idec Inc. (BIIB) manager accused the company of providing illegal discounts to doctors in an effort to increase sales of flagging products, including its psoriasis drug Amevive, Tuesday's Wall Street Journal reported.

In a lawsuit filed last month, the former employee, whose job entailed arranging payments for its products from federal insurance programs, said the company used a combination of free samples and price discounts to compensate doctors who ordered the drugs for patients but later were denied reimbursement by insurers.

The doctors received the price breaks when placing new orders, the lawsuit contends. Such an arrangement would violate the federal antikickback law because the program was designed to induce new orders, the lawsuit charges.

A Biogen spokesman said the company wouldn't discuss the specific allegations in the suit, brought in U.S. District Court in the District of Columbia, by Lisa Blanton, a former associate director for reimbursement. In a countersuit it has filed against her, Biogen said Ms. Blanton was terminated for poor job performance and was "very difficult to get along with."

The company also says Ms. Blanton and her attorneys made "extortionate demands for settlement payments" before filing the lawsuit. Her lawsuit, which claims she was wrongfully terminated, seeks at least $4 million in damages.

The Blanton lawsuit, filed Feb. 18, involves injected drugs administered in a doctor's office. With such drugs, a physician normally must purchase the product -- often costing thousands of dollars -- and later seek reimbursement.

The suit doesn't involve Tysabri, a multiple-sclerosis medicine that Biogen pulled from the market last week after two patients in a clinical trial developed a rare and often fatal nervous-system disorder.

-Wall Street Journal Staff Reporter David Armstrong contributed to this story. Dow Jones Newswires 03-08-05 0448ET Copyright (C) 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved.