Merck Defeats Bid to Reinstate Mumps Vaccine False Claims Suit

Merck & Co. Inc. showed that a False Claims Act suit alleging the company made false representations to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention about its mumps vaccine shouldn’t be revived, the Third Circuit said Tuesday.

Former Merck employees and whistleblowers Stephen Krahling and Joan Wlochowski failed to demonstrate that a Pennsylvania federal district court erred in concluding that their suit must be rejected for lack of materiality, Judge Patty Shwartz of the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit said in a nonprecedential opinion. No reasonable jury could conclude that Merck’s representations to the CDC about its ...