Allergan Again Stops Whistleblower’s Obesity Device Fraud Suit

Allergan Inc. and Apollo Endosurgery Inc. defeated a False Claims Act suit alleging a kickback scheme to provide surgeons with free advertising in exchange for purchases of devices used to treat obesity, a Maryland district court said Tuesday.

Whistleblower Matthew Fitzer alleged that the companies submitted false claims to federal healthcare programs by using a website to funnel business to surgeons who were encouraged to use and purchase its Lap Band device.

But he didn’t adequately allege that false claims were presented to the government, or that the companies engaged in a pattern of conduct that would necessarily have led ...