Corporate Whistleblower Center Urges Drug Company Insiders to Call Them If They Have Proof A Drug Is Being Sold Off Label-A Recent Huge Reward Was Just Announced
(PRWEB) October 07, 2014 -- The Corporate Whistleblower Center is urging pharmaceutical company insiders, or medical doctors to contact them at 866-714-6466 if they have well documented proof a drug company is currently selling a drug under false pretenses, or if the drug is being sold off label, because the rewards for this type of information really can be in the millions of dollars as demonstrated by a recent Justice Department settlement."
In September 2014 the Justice Department announced a Pharmaceutical company named Shire Pharmaceuticals LLC will pay $56.5 million to resolve civil allegations that it violated the False Claims Act as a result of its marketing and promotion of several drugs. Shire, located in Wayne, Pennsylvania, manufactures and sells pharmaceuticals, including Adderall XR, Vyvanse and Daytrana, which are approved for the treatment of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), and Pentasa and Lialda, which are approved for the treatment of mild to moderate active ulcerative colitis.
The settlement resolves allegations that, between January 2004 and December 2007, Shire promoted Adderall XR for certain uses despite a lack of clinical data to support such claims and overstated the efficacy of Adderall XR, particularly relative to other ADHD drugs. Among the allegedly unsupported claims was that Adderall XR was clinically superior to other ADHD drugs because it would “normalize” its recipients, rendering them indistinguishable from their non-ADHD peers. Shire also allegedly marketed Adderall XR based on unsupported claims that Adderall XR would prevent poor academic performance, loss of employment, criminal behavior, traffic accidents and sexually transmitted disease. In addition, Shire allegedly promoted Adderall XR for the treatment of conduct disorder without approval from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
The settlement further resolves allegations that, between February 2007 and September 2010, Shire sales representatives and other agents allegedly made false and misleading statements about the efficacy and “abuseability” of Vyvanse to state Medicaid formulary committees and to individual physicians. For example, one Shire medical science liaison allegedly told a state formulary board that Vyvanse “provides less abuse liability” than “every other long-acting release mechanism” on the market. However, the government contended that no study Shire conducted had concluded that Vyvanse was not abuseable, and, as an amphetamine product, the Vyvanse label included an FDA-mandated black box warning for its potential for misuse and abuse. Shire also made allegedly unsupported claims that treatment with Vyvanse would prevent car accidents, divorce, arrests and unemployment.
Finally, the settlement resolves allegations that between January 2006 and June 2010, Shire sales representatives promoted Lialda and Pentasa for off-label uses not approved by the FDA and not covered by federal healthcare programs. Specifically, the government alleged that Shire promoted Lialda off-label for the prevention of colorectal cancer.
The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, "Based on what we know about the pharmaceutical industry, off labeling, kickbacks to physicians, and Medicare fraud we would say there are there are probably hundreds, if not over a thousand drug company insiders sitting on a winning lotto ticket. If you have well documented proof of these types of activities please call us at 866-714-6466, so we can carefully explain federal whistleblower laws to you, along with how the reward program works. As we would like to explain there could be millions of reasons to call us." http://CorporateWhistleblowerCenter.Com
As part of the settlement the whistleblower will receive $5.9 million.
Simple rules for a whistleblower from the Corporate Whistleblower Center:
Do not go to the government first if you are a major whistleblower. The Corporate Whistleblower Center says, “Major whistleblowers frequently go to the federal government thinking they will help. It’s a huge mistake. Frequently government officials could care less, or they are incompetent.”
- Do not go to the news media with your whistleblower information. Public revelation of a whistleblower’s information could destroy any prospect for a reward.
- Do not try to force a government contractor, or corporation to come clean to the government about their wrongdoing.
The Corporate Whistleblower Center emphasizes that they want to talk to healthcare whistleblowers with proof of significant Medicare fraud in any city, or state, including Los Angeles, California, New York, New York, Miami, Florida, Houston, Texas, Boston, Massachusetts, Baltimore, Maryland, Columbus, Ohio, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Memphis, Tennessee, Charlotte, North Carolina, Atlanta, Georgia, New Orleans, Louisiana, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Saint Louis, Missouri, Ann Arbor, Michigan, Indianapolis, Indiana, Chicago, Illinois; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Minneapolis, Minnesota, Omaha, Nebraska, Wichita, Kansas, Denver, Colorado, Phoenix, Arizona, Las Vegas, Nevada; Boise,Idaho, Portland, Oregon, Seattle, Washington, or Anchorage, Alaska.
Any type of insider, or employee, who possesses significant proof of their employer, or a government contractor fleecing the federal government is encouraged to contact the Corporate Whistleblower Center anytime at 866-714-6466, or they can contact the group via their web site at http://CorporateWhistleBlowerCenter.Com
For attribution purposes please refer to the September 2014 Justice Department press release on this matter. http://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/shire-pharmaceuticals-llc-pay-565-million-resolve-false-claims-act-allegations-relating-drug
Case number: The lawsuits are captioned United States ex rel. Torres v. Shire Specialty Pharmaceuticals, et al., No. 08-4795 (E.D. Pa.) and United States ex rel. Hsieh, Harris, and Clark v. Shire PLC, et al., No. 09-6994 (N.D. Ill.
M Thomas Martin, America's Watchdog 6, http://CorporateWhistleblowerCenter.Com, +1 (866) 714-6466, [email protected]
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