As previously reported, large pharmaceutical corporations are aggressively lobbying against amendments to the False Claims Act which strengthen the law’s capability to hold companies accountable for fraud. New reporting details that Pfizer is among the companies that has tried to block the False Claims Amendment Act of 2021 from passing.
The False Claims Act has been described by the U.S. Assistant Attorney General as “the most powerful tool the American people have to protect the government from fraud.” The qui tam provisions of the law have empowered whistleblowers to expose fraud and allowed the government to recover over $64 billion.
Like many other pharmaceutical companies, Pfizer has paid hefty fines for violations of the False Claims Act. In 2009, Pfizer “agreed to pay $2.3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in the history of the Department of Justice, to resolve criminal and civil liability arising from the illegal promotion of certain pharmaceutical products,” according to the DOJ. This record settlement stemmed from a lawsuit brought against Pfizer by six whistleblowers.
In recent years, the False Claims Act has been weakened by court decisions which have altered the definition of “materiality.” In short, under recent court interpretations, False Claims Act suits can be dismissed if the government continued to pay the fraudulent contract despite someone, somewhere in the government, having knowledge of the false claims submitted by the...
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