Archive

Another Clinical Trial Fraud Success for Government Enforcement: Bring on the Clinical Trial Fraud Whistleblowers

On December 10, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced the latest clinical trial fraud enforcement success with the conviction of two chief executives for lying to investors about the supposed promise of an investigational drug called leronlimab their companies were promoting to treat HIV and COVID-19.  It follows two recent Securities and Exchange (SEC) actions against biopharma companies and their executives for...

SEC Announces Settled Charges Against Pharma Company and Executives for Misleading Investors about FDA Clinical Review of Drugs

The SEC continues to go after pharmaceutical companies for securities law violations in connection with misleading investors.  The most recent example is the SEC’s settled charges against a publicly traded biotherapeutics company called Kiromic BioPharma, Inc. (KRBP), the company’s former CEO, and its former chief financial officer. In this case, Kiromic was working on developing two cancer fighting drugs...

Walgreens to Pay $106.8M to Settle Whistleblower Case Alleging it Billed the Government for Prescriptions it Did Not Dispense

Walgreens has agreed to pay $106.8 million to settle false claims allegations that between 2009 and 2020 it billed government healthcare programs, including Medicare and Medicaid, for prescriptions that it never dispensed because they were not picked up by patients. The government alleged that Walgreens received tens of millions of dollars to which it was not entitled for prescriptions that it never actually provided...

Rite Aid Settles Allegations Over Improper Opioid Dispensing

Rite Aid Corporation, one of the biggest names in the retail pharmacy industry, has reached a settlement following allegations of improper practices related to opioid dispensing. This settlement, announced by the U.S. Department of Justice, involves a total payment of $7.5 million to resolve claims under the False Claims Act  and Controlled Substances Act (CSA). 

From 2014 to 2019, Rite Aid allegedly dispensed...

Catch of the Week - Endo Health Solutions

This week's Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to Endo Health Solutions.  Yesterday (February 29), the now-bankrupt pharmaceutical company agreed to pay up to $465 million over 10 years to settle criminal and civil charges relating to its sales and marketing of the opioid drug Opana.  Endo voluntarily withdrew the drug from the market in 2017. This bankruptcy-negotiated payout flows from a...

Beware of Salty Snacks and Candy Containing THC

On Wednesday (July 5), the FTC and FDA jointly issued cease and desist letters to several companies selling various food products containing THC, the key psychoactive ingredient in marijuana.  In announcing the enforcement action, the government made it clear the problem is not the sale of these products.  It is how they are selling them, which according to the agencies is in almost identical packaging to many...

Catch of the Week: National Health Care Fraud Sweep

This week's Department of Justice (DOJ) Catch of the Week goes to the 78 individuals criminally charged with participating in health care fraud and opioid abuse schemes across the country.  On Wednesday, DOJ announced the "strategically coordinated, two-week nationwide law enforcement action" it brought with federal and state law enforcement partners, which targeted misconduct resulting in over $2.5 billion in...

Top Ten Healthcare Fraud Recoveries of 2022

Consistent with the trend in prior years, 2022 saw government enforcement agencies taking aim at fraud and false claims in healthcare.  As the cost of healthcare rises along with its share of the U.S. economy, the enforcement focus on healthcare fraud is likely to accelerate. And, as always, the role of whistleblowers will be critical, as demonstrated by the dominance of cases originated by whistleblowers under the...

A recent case could undermine the rules that have been protecting taxpayer money from fraud since the time of Lincoln

Constantine Cannon whistleblower lawyers Eric Havian, Mike Ronickher, and Ari Yampolsky were published in Fortune.com on the Supreme Court's consideration of the SuperValu decision.

We’re whistleblower lawyers who spend our careers speaking in legalese. But every once in a while, a case comes along that is so alarming, yet so couched in jargon, that an issue of great importance can easily escape notice. When that...

Gordon Schnell and Max Voldman Published in Newsweek on How Whistleblowers are Key to Reining in Prescription Drug Costs

Newsweek published an OpEd by Constantine Cannon whistleblower lawyers Gordon Schnell and Max Voldman on the need to expand the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program to Medicare.  The piece was prompted by DOJ's recent $235 million settlement with U.K. and St. Louis-based pharma company Mallinckrodt for allegedly violating the Medicaid rebate rule. On the books since 1990, the rule requires drug companies to rebate state...