Novartis Defeats False Claims Act Suit Alleging Kickback Scheme

Novartis Pharmaceuticals Corp. is entitled to dismissal of a whistleblower’s False Claims Act suit alleging that the company engaged in a kickback scheme under which it induced physicians to prescribe Gilenya, a drug used to treat multiple sclerosis, a federal district court in New York said Tuesday.

Steven Camburn, who filed his suit in 2013, alleged that Novartis used “sham” sales representative speaker programs to pay physicians to increase prescriptions of the drug.

But his complaint was inadequate because it didn’t provide sufficient information from which the court could reasonably infer that the speaker events amounted to bribes, Judge Kimba ...