July 19, 2013 – The Department of Justice announced yesterday that St.-Louis based drug manufacturer, Mallinckrodt LLC will pay the government $3.5 million to settle allegations that it paid doctors to prescribe outdated antidepressants and sleep-aids.
July 19, 2013 – The Department of Justice announced yesterday that St.-Louis based drug manufacturer, Mallinckrodt LLC will pay the government $3.5 million to settle allegations that it paid doctors to prescribe outdated antidepressants and sleep-aids.
The lawsuit, filed by a whistleblower under the False Claims Act, alleged that Mallinckrodt paid physicians consulting and speaking fees among other inducements, in exchange for them prescribing the Mallinckrodt target drugs.
The target drugs include Restoril, Magnacet, Tofranil-PM, and their generic equivalents. Prescriptions for these drugs were paid for by the Medicare and Medicaid programs
The suit, which initiated the government’s investigation, was filed by a whistleblower in April 2008. The whistleblower, a former Mallinckrodt employee, will receive $603,000 as an award.
The inducement of a physician to prescribe certain drugs by a drug manufacturer may violate both the False Claims Act and the Anti-Kickback Law. If you know of a kickback, bribery, or inducement scheme which involves a government healthcare program, contact the whistleblower attorneys at Levy Konigsberg LLP for a free consultation.