Ex-Serono executives acquitted in Massachusetts

BOSTON, May 3 (Reuters) - A federal grand jury acquitted four former executives of Swiss biotech company Serono SA on Thursday of charges they bribed doctors to write prescriptions for an AIDS drug marketed by the company.

The U.S. District Court jury in Boston took less than three hours to set aside all charges brought by the U.S. attorney here in 2005 against the executives at Serono, which was recently acquired by Germany's Merck KGaA (MRCG.DE).

"We believed this is a case that should not have been brought and the speed with which the jury returned its verdict confirmed our beliefs," Adam Hoffinger, an attorney for one of the executives, Melissa Vaughn, said in a statement.

The criminal charges included conspiracy and giving doctors expenses-paid trips to Cannes, France for a medical conference in 1999 where they agreed to write up to 30 prescriptions for Serostim, typically costing $21,000 for a 12-week treatment.

Serono agreed with the U.S. Justice Department in October 2005 to plead guilty and pay $704 million to resolve criminal and civil charges that it illegally promoted its drug to treat wasting in AIDS patients.

It also agreed in 2005 to plead guilty to two criminal charges and to pay a $137 million fine resolving an investigation into how the company marketed the drug called Serostim, which was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1996.

The drug was marketed in the United States by Serono Inc. of Rockland, Massachusetts.

Also in 2005, Serono agreed to pay $567 million to settle civil charges that it knowingly caused the submission of false claims for Serostim that were not eligible for reimbursement under government health programs.

The four executives who were acquitted are former vice presidents Mary Stewart and John Bruens, and two regional sales directors, Vaughn and Marc Sirockman.

((Editing by Richard Chang; Email: Jason.szep@reuters.com; Reuters Messaging: jason.szep.reuters.com@reuters.net; +617 367-4142)) Keywords: DRUGS SERONO/JURY

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