Qui tam bid lacks punch for success

Trial Notebook

By Steven P. Garmisa

Hoey & Farina

Posted December 3, 2019 3:09 PM

Alleging that Abbvie Inc. made billions of dollars through violations of the Anti-Kickback Statute, or AKS, that boosted sales of Humira, an injectable drug used to treat autoimmune diseases, Lozaro Suarez filed a qui tam complaint against the pharmaceutical company in Chicago under the False Claims Act, or FCA.Suarez alleged the following facts: When sales of Humira started to slow down, Abbvie implemented the Ambassador program. The Ambassadors were nurses that Abbvie sent to doctors and patients. In addition to training …

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