Pharmaceutical Representatives Reap Millions As Whistleblowers
More so than ever, pharmaceutical companies are getting caught offering incentives to their sales representatives to advocate to medical providers to prescribe their medications for off-label use. That is, for use in treating various diseases which have not been approved by the Food & Drug Administration (“FDA”). As a result, a number of pharmaceutical representatives have reaped huge rewards from successful Qui-Tam actions which are lawsuits filed under the False Claims Act.
Many recent examples abound, such as a whistleblower action filed by a former Pfizer sales representative against Pfizer alleging that the company promoted the sale of four drugs -- Bextra, Geodon, Zyvox, and Lyrica -- for unapproved uses, which in turn caused Medicaid and Medicare to pay false claims for reimbursement submitted to them by medical providers across the country. In 2009, after a six-year legal battle, Pfizer settled the case for $2.3 billion dollars. The former sales representative was awarded $51 million dollars as a result.
One of the very first such Qui-Tam lawsuits was filed 14 years ago by another former Pfizer employee, David Franklin. The whistleblower suit alleged that the Pfizer was illegally promoting the prescription drug Neurontin for off-label uses. Indeed, during one training trip for its sales representatives, the company videotaped its lawyers instructing Pfizer employees that off-label promotion was illegal. The whistleblower suit alleged that Pfizer then proceeded to turn off the videotape, joked about making sure it was off, and trained their representatives on how to break the law and promote off-label uses. As a result, Pfizer sales representatives were promoting Neurontin to medical providers for treatment of seizures, bipolar disorders, migraines and other ailments.
Even though the government decided not to intervene and prosecute the case, Mr. Franklin continued with his Qui-Tam lawsuit on his own. Pfizer finally settled the action this year for $430 million and Mr. Franklin was awarded about $26 million for his whistleblower role.
Another famous Qui-Tam lawsuit was filed by 6 employees of Eli Lilly & Company alleging that Zyprexa was marketed off-label for untested and unapproved uses. Eli Lilly allegedly created a sales team of 180 "specialty" sales representatives to promote Zyprexa for a number of off-label, unapproved FDA uses to sedate and control elderly nursing home residents exhibiting symptoms of agitation, anxiety, insomnia, depression and dementia. But the medication had been approved by the FDA to treat only bipolar and schizophrenic patients. In 2009, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania announced that Lilly will pay $1.4 billion for its illegal off-label marketing of the antipsychotic drug. The six whistleblowers who brought the whistleblower suit will share approximately 18 percent of the recovery.
If you are a current or former employee of a pharmaceutical company and believe that your employer is engaged in unlawful practices, including promoting its medications for off-label uses thereby engaging in Medicaid and/or Medicare fraud, you may be entitled to a multi-million dollar award. You can help your fellow hardworking taxpayers -- and earn millions of dollars in the process -- by blowing the whistle on unlawful pharmaceutical practices.
If you know or suspect that a pharmaceutical company is engaged in unlawful sales practices, including Medicaid and/or Medicare fraud and/or promoting its medications for off-label treatments, please contact us to discuss your legal options.