Qui Tam

Feds Seek Damages from Scios

By Marcella Auerbach

The federal government intervened in two San Francisco lawsuits Thursday and accused a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary of defrauding Medicare and other federal health programs by promoting a cardiac drug for uses that the Food and Drug Administration has not approved.

The Justice Department is seeking damages from Scios Inc. for government payments it received for the off-label marketing of Natrecor, which was approved by the FDA in 2001 to treat hospital patients for shortness of breath caused by acute congestive heart failure.

Whistle-blower lawsuits filed by two former sales managers in 2005 alleged that Scios, based in Mountain View, had aggressively and illegally promoted Natrecor since 2001 for use over extended periods by patients with less-severe heart conditions who were being treated outside hospitals. The Justice Department endorsed those accusations Thursday and said studies of the drug since 2005 have found no benefits to those patients.

Marcella Auerbach, a lawyer from Nolan & Auerbach P.A - whistleblowerfirm.com, one of the former managers, said Scios and its parent company collected hundreds of millions of dollars in reimbursements from Medicare and other programs for unapproved uses of Natrecor. Whistle-blowers are entitled to between 15 and 25 percent of any damages won in such cases.

To read the full story click here.

Full post as published by Medicare Fraud 101 on February 22, 2009 (boomark / email).