On July 20, 2022, Biogen Inc. (“Biogen”) disclosed in a quarterly earnings report that it had agreed to pay $900 million to resolve a qui tam claim by a former employee that the company had violated the False Claims Act (“FCA”) and the Federal Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”). See Biogen Reports Second Quarter 2022 Results; see also United States ex rel. Bawduniak v. Biogen Idec, Inc., No. 12-cv-10601-IT, ECF No. 132 (Third Amended Complaint), ECF 615 (Notice of Settlement) (D. Mass. Apr. 27, 2018).
In the original qui tam suit, former employee Michael Bawduniak accused Biogen of FCA and AKS violations through its payment of “millions of dollars in kickbacks to influence health care providers” to prescribe Biogen’s multiple sclerosis (“MS”) products in order to preserve Biogen’s market share of one of its MS drugs, to increase the market share of another, and to ensure that a third MS drug would be prescribed at a high rate once approved. ECF No. 132 at 1. The former sales representative alleged that Biogen’s “massive scheme” had “defraud[ed] Medicare, Medicaid, and other federal programs by providing financial rewards to physicians” to induce them to prescribe Biogen MS treatments. ECF No. 20 (Second Amended Complaint). In particular, he alleged that Biogen had classified and targeted physicians “based upon criteria that measured their ability to influence the prescription of MS treatments” such that Biogen paid lucrative consultation and speaking fees, travel expenses, and...
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