Healthcare Fraud

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Forest Pharmaceuticals Inc  accused of submitting fraudulent claims to federal health care programs for the drugs Levothroid, Celexa, and Lexapro.

The settlement covers various whistleblower lawsuits filed under the provisions of the False Claims Act.   As part of the civil settlement, more than $88 million will be distributed to the federal government and more than $60 million will be distributed to and shared by the states.   Additionally, the private whistleblowers will receive approximately $14 million from the federal share of the settlement amount.  

The Justice Department alleged Forest's fradulent activity took place from 1998 until at least 2005.

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against AstraZeneca who was accused of illegally marketing the anti-psychotic drug Seroquel for uses not approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration.

In a company e-mail ( unsealed in civil lawsuits ) AstraZeneca “buried” — a manager’s term — a 1997 study that showed Seroquel users gained 11 pounds a year, while publicizing a study that claimed users lost weight. Company e-mail messages also refer to doing a “great smoke-and-mirrors job” on unfavorable studies.

AstraZeneca denies the allegations leveled by the government in the civil case.

Under the terms of the settlement, the federal government will receive $301,907,007 from the civil settlement, and the state Medicaid programs and the District of Columbia will share up to $218,092,993 of the civil settlement. The whistleblower that filed the original lawsuit will receive more than $45 million from the federal share of the civil recovery.

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Eli Lilly who is accused of unauthorized use in patients particularly vulnerable to its risky side effects.

The settlement amount includes a criminal fine of $515 million, the largest ever in a health care case, and the largest criminal fine for an individual corporation ever imposed in a United States criminal prosecution of any kind. Eli Lilly will also pay up to $800 million in a civil settlement with the federal government and the states.

The originally filed whistle blower lawsuits alleged that between September 1999 and the end of 2005, Eli Lilly promoted Zyprexa for use in patients of all ages and for the treatment of anxiety, irritability, depression, nausea, Alzheimer’s and other mood disorders. They also alleged that the company funded continuing medical education programs, through millions of dollars in grants, to promote off-label uses of its drugs, in violation of the FDA’s requirements.

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Pfizer Inc who was accused of dangerous and illegal “off-label marketing” of the prescription painkiller Bextra.

As part of the settlement, Pfizer will pay a criminal fine of $1.195 billion. Whereas Pharmacia & Upjohn must pay a $105 million criminal fine. Pfizer also has agreed to pay $1 billion in civil damages and penalties to compensate federal health-care programs for false claims submitted as a result of its marketing Bextra and the other four drugs for off-label use or at unapproved dosages. The Pfizer whistleblower received more than $51 million as a reward.

Filed in 2003, the lawsuit alleges that Pfizer promoted Bextra for uses and in doses that far exceeded what the FDA had approved. This put patients at risk for serious health problems such as heart attack, stroke and pulmonary embolism (blood clot in the lung). The lawsuit also said that Bextra paid doctors kickbacks in various ways to influence them to prescribe and endorse Bextra for these “off-label” uses. Bextra was withdrawn from the market in 2005.

A settlement has been reached in a whistleblower class action lawsuit brought against Dominion Resources Inc and Marathon Oil Corporporation who are accused of knowingly underpaying royalties from federal and Indian leases.

Dominion Resources Inc and Marathon Oil Corp agreed to pay $2.2 million and $4.7 million,  respectively. Whistleblower Harold Wright is now deceased but his heirs will receive a $1.8 million share of the settlement.

The originally filed lawsuit alleges that they deflated gas earnings to avoid paying extra royalties to the government and that the companies fraudulently charged for costs of boosting pipeline pressures, which should not have been factored into the royalty revenue.