Contact

Click here for a confidential contact or call:

1-212-350-2774

Archive

Page 4 of 13

Newly Unsealed Whistleblower Lawsuit Alleges Drug Giant McKesson Gave Doctors Illegal Kickbacks in the Form of Free Software

Posted  07/24/20
Close-up of McKesson logo on computer screen
Constantine Cannon LLP is pleased to announce the unsealing of a whistleblower lawsuit its client brought alleging that drug wholesaler McKesson Corp. and its affiliated companies provided illegal kickbacks in the form of free business services to encourage oncologists and other doctors to buy drugs from McKesson. The lawsuit alleges that McKesson gave doctors valuable business-management tools geared towards...

Catch of the Week: Novartis Pays $729 Million to Settle Two Kickback Cases on Heels of $345 Million Foreign Bribery Settlement

Posted  07/2/20
Novartis corporate building
This week and last, pharmaceutical manufacturer Novartis reached three settlements involving very different forms of unlawful kickbacks and bribes.  First, this week the company agreed to pay a total of $678 million to resolve a New York case alleging that it paid inflated “speaking fees” and provided other incentives to doctors to induce them to prescribe Novartis drugs.  Second, Novartis will pay $51.25...

Regeneron: The Government’s Latest Stand against Patient Kickbacks

Posted  06/25/20
pills, syringes, and money scattered around
This week, Boston-based prosecutors have filed a new False Claims Act case against Regeneron, a pharmaceutical company, alleging that it paid patients kickbacks aiming to steer them into using Regeneron’s macular degeneration drug, Eylea. Regeneron allegedly disguised the kickbacks as charitable contributions to a foundation. Prosecutors say that Regeneron only donated exactly enough money to the foundation, called...

The Missing Ventilator Stockpile Was Not Inevitable

Posted  04/3/20
Hospital Building Sign
The coronavirus crisis has been a crash course for the general public in how lifesaving ventilators work.  But the federal government has long known how crucial they are and how important it is to be able to stockpile sufficient numbers.  Five years ago, the government tried to plan ahead by commissioning the design and production of a low-cost ventilator to build up public and private stores in case an...

The COVID-19 Crisis, Whistleblowers, and the Constantine Cannon Whistleblower Team

Posted  03/19/20
Soapy hands under running water faucet
As Constantine Cannon announced earlier this week, in response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) crisis, we have implemented contingency plans to work remotely.  While our work locations have changed, we remain dedicated to our whistleblower clients, and our team continues to provide whistleblowers with support and legal guidance. With offices in New York, D.C., San Francisco, and London, the Constantine Cannon...

Medicaid Drug Rebate Fraud: Should it be an Enforcement Priority?

Posted  03/10/20
pill container spilled over with pills in the form of a dollar sign
Medicaid has one very intuitive approach to keeping drug prices in check. Drug companies, under a law called the Medicaid Drug Rebate Program, must rebate Medicaid programs any money that resulted from the increased drug prices outpacing inflation. Inflation is benchmarked to either 1990, or the first year a drug came to market, which ever is later. As an example of how this works, imagine a pharmaceutical company...

First Circuit Revives Whistleblower Suit Against PharMerica, Rejecting Public Disclosure Challenge

Posted  02/28/20
boston-first-circuit-building
Rejecting an argument that only a fraudster could love, the First Circuit Court of Appeals revived a whistleblower’s lawsuit and rightly recognized that whistleblowers can have “direct” knowledge of fraud even if they did not themselves participate in the fraud. In United States ex rel. Banigan & Templin, et al. v. PharMerica, Inc., the First Circuit interpreted the so-called “original source” provision of...

Catch of the Week: Guardian Elder Care

Posted  02/21/20
person holding elder's hand
This week's DOJ Catch of the Week goes to Guardian Elder Care.  On Wednesday, the operator of more than 50 nursing homes in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia agreed to pay roughly $15.5 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act by billing the government -- Medicare and the Federal Employees Health Benefits Program -- for medically unnecessary rehabilitation therapy services.  According to...

Top Ten State Healthcare and Financial Fraud Recoveries of 2019

Posted  01/30/20
mount-rushmore-and-state-flags
Here at Constantine Cannon, our attorneys represent whistleblowers reporting a wide variety of healthcare fraud and financial fraud, including government contract fraud, unlawful kickbacks, tax evasion, and more. While such wrongful conduct often violates federal laws, state governments are also important enforcement authorities. For whistleblowers, state enforcement can offer additional opportunities.  New York,...

Catch of the Week: Practice Fusion Pays $145 Million for EHR Kickbacks and Misrepresentations about Software

Posted  01/28/20
Healthcare providers talk about the importance of behavioral “nudges” – gentle pushes to encourage healthy choices and positive behaviors. In our Catch of the Week, healthcare providers were nudged to prescribe highly addictive extended-release opioids in a manner that was not consistent with accepted medical standards. Who nudged them? Their own electronic health records system, which was paid to do so by the...
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 13