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False Claims Act Attorney Discusses Prior Rewards and Statistics

As attorneys that represent individuals who want to file a claim under the False Claims Act and assert a qui tam complaint against a business defrauding the United States Government, we wanted to provide that there has been a False Claims Act settlement for $15 million dollars against Novartis Pharmaceutical Corporation and Bioscrip, Inc. in connection with a multi-million dollar kickback scheme involving a prescription drug.

The lawsuit that was filed alleges that as a result of a kickback scheme, Medicare and Medicaid paid tens of millions of dollars in reimbursement based on false, kickback tainted claims before Exjade shipped by Bioscrip.  Contemporaneous with the filing of an Amended Complaint, District Judge Colleen McMann approved a settlement to resolve the United States claim against Bioscrip and their limited financial resources that Bioscrip agrees to pay $11.6 million dollars to the United States Government, $3.3 million dollars to a group of states, and cooperate in the prosecution of claims against Novartis.  Manhattan United States Attorney Preet Bharara stated that “Novartis is caught having orchestrated yet another scheme whereby it used the lure of kickbacks to co-opt a healthcare providers’ independence and in this case turn pharmacy employees at Bioscrip into sales people for Exjade.  By having Bioscrip promote refills under the guise of purported counseling and education, Novartis caused patients to receive one-sided advice that did not discuss Exjade’s serious, potentially life-threatening side effects.  Further, by hiding this illegal quid pro quo from federal healthcare programs, Novartis caused the public to pay tens of millions of dollars for the kickback-tainted drugs.”

Exjade is an iron chelation drug approved for use by patients who have iron overload resulting from blood transfusions.  Between February 2007 and May 2012, Novartis orchestrated a scheme whereby it offered kickbacks, in the form of patient referrals under the guise of rebates, to Bioscrip, a specialty pharmacy, in exchange for Bioscrip increasing its Exjade refills through biased recommendations to patients.  By orchestrating their scheme, Novartis and Bioscrip further caused pharmacies to submit tens of thousands of claims to Medicare and Medicare resulting in payments of tens of millions of dollars in reimbursements based upon these false claims.

The allegations of fraud stated in the Complaint were first brought to the attention of Federal law enforcement by a whistleblower who filed a lawsuit under the False Claims Act.  The False Claims Act permits the government to recover up to three times the amount of damages incurred by the United States plus civil penalties ranging from $5,500 to $11,000 per violation.  Private parties who have knowledge of fraud committed against the government may file suit on behalf of the government and share in any recovery.  The United States may then intervene and file its own lawsuit for treble damages and penalties, as it did in this case.

If you have confidential information about a fraud against the government in Tennessee, Kentucky, Mississippi, Alabama, Arkansas or another state, please contact us as soon as possible for a free case evaluation.

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Attorneys in our firm and attorneys that we work with on Whistleblower, Qui Tam, False Claims Act cases have represented a host of persons making claims, for violations of federal tax law, Medicare law and more.

For more information, please contact our team of whitsleblower and qui tam attorneys today, or visit our False Claims Act Litigation Source.

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Our offices will review potential false claims act cases in all fifty states, including Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, Kentucky and Alabama.