AstraZeneca recently settled federal investigations regarding its marketing practices of Seroquel for $520 million. Although Seroquel had only been approved by the FDA to treat schizophrenia and acute bipolar I disorder, whistleblower James Wetta accused the company of embarking on a national sales program to promote Seroquel for off-label use…
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a letter to drug maker Novartis warning it to cease its incomplete and misleading promotion of the leukemia fighting drug Tasigna on Facebook. Novartis had been using Facebook’s “share button” to market the drug on the social website giant. However, in…
A multi-state agreement was reached between 49 states, the District of Columbia, and Alpharma Inc. on June 8 to settle allegations of kickbacks and off-label promotion of its drug, Kadian. A whistleblower receiving $5.33 million of the total $42.5 million settlement initially filed the lawsuit in 2006 under the False…
Pharmaceutical company Elan Corporation recently announced an agreement with the DOJ to pay $203.5 million to settle Medicaid fraud claims involving its previously divested antiepileptic drug, Zonegran. As a result of the agreement, Elan pled guilty to a misdemeanor violation of the Food Drug and Cosmetics Act (FDCA) and plans…
The Department of Justice (DOJ) announced today that it has charged 94 doctors, healthcare company owners, and executives with submitting more than $251 million in false claims to Medicare. The arrests spread across five different states in areas the federal government has deemed fraud hotspots. It was the largest federal…
A federal district court judge has denied Pfizer’s motion to dismiss a derivative shareholder suit against the company which alleges that directors and executives at Pfizer are liable for actions that led to a historic $2.3 billion settlement with the U.S. government in 2009. Pfizer entered into this enormous settlement…
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is asking Congress for the power to boot executives convicted of Medicare fraud from federal health programs such as Medicare and Medicaid. These booted executives will struggle to find new employment in the industry, considering the U.S. government is the largest prescription…