Last Thursday in the Southern District of California, Abbott Laboratories, Inc., Abbott Cardiovascular Systems Inc., and Abbott Vascular Inc. (collectively, Abbott) filed a memorandum of points and authorities in support of a previous motion they had filed to dismiss a complaint. The complaint had been filed by Everest Principals (on behalf of the U.S. government and a number of states) and alleged that Abbott had engaged in a scheme of kickbacks so that they could boost usage of their heart procedure device, MitraClip.
Everest Principals is a single-member LLC and a former employee of the defendant, meaning they have personal knowledge of the misconduct they are alleging against Abbott. Their complaint cites violations of both the False Claims Act and Anti-Kickback Statute.
The defendant’s MitraClip device aims to repair leaks that may occur in a patient’s mitral valve. The complaint alleged that while Abbott would attempt to demonstrate the efficacy of MitraClip through studies, they would purportedly frequently only use the positive results to persuade physicians to endorse the product. These results, coupled with incentives, would result in doctors and hospitals referring the device. The incentives would include free marketing, meals, parties, cash payments, and more.
Abbott argues in their most recent filing that the plaintiff has failed to properly plead with particularity how the false claims they allege were submitted to each state they cite, as the Court...
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