How could alleged kickbacks threaten to render insolvent a publicly traded company with assets (taken from its latest SEC filing) in excess of $43 billion? The answer stems from a recent decision by the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts. In its ruling denying the motion for summary judgment filed by defendants Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. and Teva Neuroscience, Inc. (collectively Teva) and granting the government’s partial summary judgment motion, the court ruled that

1. The causation requirement for a False Claims Act (FCA) violation predicated on a kickback prohibited by the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) is, although ill-defined, less exacting than even a “but for” causation analysis;
2. Allegedly false statements made in the context of alleged kickbacks to federal payor programs like Medicare are per se material; and
3. Damages in an alleged kickback scheme encompass the full measure of what the government paid to the defendant, irrespective of any value the defendant provided.

In U.S. v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. et al, the government contends that Teva funded the copays of Medicare patients using Copaxone, a multiple sclerosis drug, through donations to nonprofits running patient assistance programs. Teva in turn allegedly benefited from these donations by increasing the cost of Copaxone to the government. As a result, the government posits, Teva filled Copaxone prescriptions that it otherwise would not have filled and the government paid...

Read Full Story: https://news.google.com/rss/articles/CBMiS2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3Lmpkc3VwcmEuY29tL2xl...