Whistleblower case alleging kickback for promotion of Novartis MS drug Gilenya dismissed

In fact, Camburn said, the events were social in nature, treating doctors to lavish dinners but providing no educational value. He said the program violated the Anti-Kickback Statute and False Claims Act by causing government health insurance programs to be billed for prescriptions tainted by kickbacks.

Wood in March 2020 dismissed an earlier version of the lawsuit for lacking detail, but gave him a chance to amend the case.

Camburn did so in May 2020, including alleged statements from confidential witnesses. Novartis claimed Camburn had misrepresented the confidential witnesses' statements and sought sanctions. Camburn amended his complaint again in November 2021 under an agreement to address the company's concerns, but still included some confidential witness statements.

One witness allegedly said that Novartis sales representatives were evaluated based on how many speaker programs they arranged; another, that he or she was warned not to speak of the company's "return on investment" in writing in connection with the speaker program; and another, that his or her manager had openly stated that doctors prescribed more Gilenya after speaker programs.

Novartis moved to dismiss, arguing that Camburn still had not offered enough detail to support his claim of a fraudulent scheme. Wood agreed, finding that the witnesses' claims were sometimes contradictory and not definitive enough to save his case.

Novartis in 2020 agreed to pay $729 million to settle similar whistleblower claims related to its speaker program and its diabetes and cardiovascular drugs.

For Camburn: Laurie Rubinow, James Miller and James Shah of Miller Shah

For Novartis: Evan Chesler, Benjamin Gruenstein and Damaris Hernández of Cravath, Swaine & Moore