Bayer, J&J Beat Whistleblower’s Antibiotics False Claims Suit

Bayer Corp. and Johnson & Johnson won dismissal of a False Claims Act suit alleging that they misbranded their antibiotic drugs, because the whistleblower didn’t adequately plead falsity, a New Jersey district court said.

Whistleblower Charles Bennett’s complaint “contains hardly any facts” regarding his claims that the companies made misrepresentations about Cipro and Levaquin to the Food and Drug Administration or withheld safety information, Judge Esther Salas of the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey said in a nonprecedential opinion Thursday.

The complaint failed to distinguish between the companies, two distinct entities that sold different drugs and ...