On January 4, 2013, the Attorney General for Texas, Greg Abbott, announced that Pfizer, Inc. and Endo Pharmaceuticals will pay $36 million to settle a whistleblower suit filed under Texas’ Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act. The settlement resolves allegations that the companies defrauded Medicaid by misreporting the price of generic drugs for the Medicaid program.
On January 10, 2013, a pharmaceutical company based in San Diego, Victory Pharma, Inc., agreed to pay $11.4 Million to resolve allegations that it improperly marketed its pharmaceutical products. It is alleged that Victory violated the federal Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act by paying kickbacks to doctors who prescribe the company’s drugs.
On January 7, 2013, the U.S. Department of Justice announced a settlement resolving False Claims Act allegations against EMH Regional Medical Center (“EMH”) and North Ohio Art Center, Inc. (“NOHC”). It was alleged that EMH and NOHC performed unnecessary stent procedures on patients between 2001 and 2006, including those reimbursed by Medicare.
Illinois-based hardware distributor, W.W. Grainger Inc., has agreed to pay $70 million to the United States to resolve allegations that it submitted false claims under contracts with the General Services Administration and the U.S. Postal Service.
For more information, please see:
http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/2012/December/12-civ-1545.
British Iraq Contractor, APTx Vehicle Systems, agreed to pay $2 million to resolve allegations that it defrauded the U.S. by making false claims in a contract for the procurement of 51 vehicles for the Iraqi Police Authority.
Amgen, one of the world’s largest biotechnology companies, agreed to pay $762 million to resolve criminal and civil allegations that it marketed its drug Aranesp for off-label uses.
Two subsidiaries of France-based drug manufacturer Sanofi, Sanofi-Aventis, Inc. and Sanofi-Aventis, LLC, agreed to pay $109 million to the U.S. to resolve allegations that it violated the federal False Claims Act by providing units of its knee injection, Hyalgan, to physicians for free in order to induce them to buy and prescribe Hyalgan in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute.
Pfizer agreed to pay $55 million to the U.S. government for marketing its drug Protonix, approved to treat erosive esophagitis, for unapproved use. According to the Justice Department, Pfizer promoted Protonix for all forms of gastroesophageal reflux disease even though it is only approved for short-term treatment of erosive esophagitis.
In a recent interview with the American Lawyer, Sean McKessey, the SEC’s Office of the Whistleblower chief, warned companies and lawyers to not try to impede or intimidate potential whistleblowers from making tips to the SEC. Specifically, Mr. McKessey warned that attorneys should not seek to draft policies and agreements which would prevent a company’s employee from reporting alleged fraud to the SEC.
The Department of Justice announced that it recovered a record $5 billion from companies that defrauded the government through the False Claims Act in 2012, $3.3 billion of which came from cases filed by qui tam whistleblowers. The government has recovered $13.
If you are aware of any person, corporation or entity that you think may be violating the Federal False Claims Act or a State False Claims Act, contact us today.