A sign marks a Biogen facility in Cambridge, Massachusetts, U.S. January 26, 2017. REUTERS/Brian Snyder
(Reuters) - Biogen Inc on Wednesday said it had cinched a $900 million deal to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit accusing the biotech company of paying doctors kickbacks to prescribe multiple sclerosis drugs just days before a trial was scheduled to kick off.
The agreement-in-principle, which Biogen disclosed in a quarterly earning report, came ahead of a trial set to begin next Tuesday in federal court in Boston in a lawsuit brought by a former employee.
The settlement is subject to the approval of the U.S. Justice Department, which did not intervene in the case as it could have under the False Claims Act but instead left it to the ex-employee Michael Bawduniak to litigate on his own.
Thomas Greene, his lawyer at Greene LLP, in a statement called the settlement the largest recovery in over 150 years of False Claims Act cases to be secured by a whistleblower without the intervention or participation of the government.
The deal also tops any False Claims Act settlement announced by the Justice Department this year.
Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Biogen, represented by Evan Chesler of Cravath, Swaine & Moore, did not admit wrongdoing.
"We are resolving this matter to avoid the distraction of litigation and to allow the Company to focus on our strategic priorities and the patients we serve," Biogen said.
The lawsuit was filed in 2012 under the False Claims Act, which...
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