In early September, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo Nordisk Inc. has agreed to pay $58.65 million for failing to comply with a Food and Drug Administration (FDA) mandated Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (REMS) program. The REMS was for Novo Nordisk’s Type II diabetes medication…
Pharmaceutical companies Mylan Inc. and Mylan Specialty L.P. agree to pay $465 million to settle a lawsuit brought under the False Claims Act (FCA). According to the FCA-based suit brought by a whistleblower, Mylan intentionally misclassified EpiPen as a generic drug – knowing it was a brand name drug –…
The Department of Justice (DOJ) for the Eastern District of California announced on July 7 that Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. (Walmart) paid $1.65 million to resolve accusations related to unlawful medical claims. This is an important suit as it demonstrates that the federal and state governments will go after large retailers…
The U.S. Department of Justice announced on June 28 that PAMC Ltd. and Pacific Alliance Medical Center Inc. have agreed to pay $42 million to settle allegations that they violated provisions of the False Claims Act. The two companies, which operate together as Pacific Alliance Medical Center in Los Angeles,…
A radiation therapy center based in Lancaster agreed to pay $3 million to the federal government to resolve a claim that it committed healthcare fraud for close to 10 years. A qui tam suit based on the federal False Claims Act, filed by former employee Jared Shindler, alleged that Valley…
The University of California recently announced that it uncovered evidence of a fraudulent health care scheme targeting students. Local health care providers would recruit and encourage students to enroll in fake clinical trials or apply for fake jobs. This allowed them to gain the student’s personal and health plan information.…
Cancer. Rarely can one word strike so much fear. We have come so far in both cancer prevention and cancer treatment; yet we also have so much farther to go before we can truly say we’ve triumphed over this massive beast. One major challenge is the cost of treating cancer. …