US Says Amgen Whistleblower’s Drug Fraud Suit Must Be Tossed

A whistleblower’s 15-year-old False Claims Act suit claiming that medical practices engaged in a scheme to overbill Medicare for Amgen Inc. drugs must be dismissed, federal prosecutors said.

Don Hanks’ suit can’t continue because the claims in his seventh amended complaint are based on publicly disclosed information—other lawsuits and media reports—and he doesn’t satisfy the original source exception to the FCA’s public disclosure bar, the government told the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York in a Tuesday filing.

Hanks hasn’t shown that he had direct and independent knowledge of the information supporting his allegations, and he ...