For pursuing the case, the former employee will receive about $250m
Biogen has reached a final agreement to pay $900m to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit accusing the biotech company of paying kickbacks to healthcare professionals (HCPs) to encourage them to prescribe multiple sclerosis (MS) drugs.
The US Department of Justice explained in a statement that the settlement resolves a long-running lawsuit filed and litigated by former Biogen employee Michael Bawduniak, on behalf of the US government, under the whistleblower (qui tam) provisions of the False Claims Act.
According to Bawduniak's complaint, from 1 January 2009 to 18 March 2014, Biogen offered and paid remuneration in the form of speaker honoraria, speaker training fees, consulting fees and meals to HCPs who spoke at or attended the company's speaker programmes, speaker training meetings or consultant programmes.
This was done to encourage HCPs to prescribe the MS drugs Avonex (interferon-beta-1a), Tysabri (natalizumab) and Tecfidera (dimethyl fumarate), in violation of the Anti-Kickback Statute, it was alleged.
That resulted in false claims for payment being submitted to the government healthcare programmes Medicare and Medicaid, the Department of Justice outlined.
Biogen will pay $844m to the US government and another $56m to 15 states within the next 20 days. For pursuing the case, Bawduniak will receive about 29.6% of the federal proceeds, or about $250m, a sum believed to be the highest amount ever for US...
On 23 March 2026, US President Donald Trump posted on a social media platform, Truth Social, that Washington and Tehran were engaged in productive negotiations. Within an hour, oil prices fell by n...