Novartis escapes claim that it paid kickbacks to promote MS drug
By Brendan Pierson
(Reuters) – A federal judge on Tuesday dismissed, for the second time, a whistleblower lawsuit accusing drugmaker Novartis AG of paying kickbacks to doctors through a sham speaker program to promote its multiple sclerosis drug Gilenya.
U.S. District Judge Kimba Wood in Manhattan said former Novartis sales representative Stephen Camburn had not provided enough detail to support his claims.
James Miller of Miller Shah, a lawyer for Camburn, said he and his client would appeal to the 2nd Circuit and were confident the ruling would be reversed.
Lawyers for Novartis did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Gilenya was the company’s third-best selling drug in 2021, bringing in $2.8 billion worldwide out of $51.6 billion in total sales.
Camburn sued Novartis in 2013 under the False Claims Act, which allows whistleblowers to sue on behalf of the government and keep a share of any recovery. He claimed that Novartis paid doctors up to $3,500 to participate as speakers in purportedly educational speaker events to induce them to prescribe and promote Gilenya.
In fact, Camburn said, the events were social in nature, treating doctors to lavish dinners but providing no educational value. He said the program violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act by causing government health insurance programs to be billed for prescriptions tainted by kickbacks.
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