A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Genzyme Corp who is accused of marketing, and causing false claims to be submitted to federal and state health care programs for use of, a “slurry” version of its Seprafilm adhesion barrier.
The whistleblowers' share of the settlement has not been determined.
The government's case is based upon the filing of two different whistleblower cases, the first of which was filed in July 2009. The complaint alleged that Genzyme sales representatives taught doctors and other staff to cut the Seprafilm sheets into small pieces, add saline and allow the pieces to dissolve until the desired consistency was reached. This mixture was referred to as “slurry.” Genzyme sales representatives traded recipes for slurry, and trained each other in how to create it. The slurry was used in laparoscopic or “key hole” surgeries by inserting a catheter filled with the mixture into the body and squirting it into the abdominal cavity. Seprafilm is FDA-approved for use in open abdominal surgery but not for minimally invasive surgeries, such as laparoscopic or key hole surgery. Allegedly, as a result of this conduct, Genzyme knowingly caused hospitals and other purchasers of Seprafilm to submit false and fraudulent claims to federal health care programs for uses of Seprafilm that were not reimbursable.
