August 19, 2016
Categories: Whistleblowers
The pharmaceutical giant Pfizer has had more than its share of whistleblower cases field against it. Most recently, in April of this year, Pfizer agreed to a $784.6 million settlement for defrauding Medicaid in the sales of its proton pump inhibitor (PPI) drug Protonix, while giving discounts to private companies who purchased the same drug.
Protonix
The drug company Wyeth, acquired by Pfizer in 2009, gave bundled discounts for its PPI drugs Protonix Oral and Protonix IV to thousands of hospitals, which Wyeth failed to disclose to Medicaid while avoiding payment of hundreds of thousands of dollars in rebates to Medicaid. Medicaid requires that drug companies report any discounts that they give to private companies and then provide the same discounts to Medicaid in the form of rebates. The lawsuit was filed by two whistleblowers who will receive a shared total of $98,058,198 for bringing the case.
Neurontin
In 2004, Pfizer agreed to pay approximately $430 million in criminal and civil fines for fraudulent marketing of the drug Neurontin. The fraudulent marketing was apparently committed by Parke-Davis, which was owned by Warner-Lambert Co. and acquired by Pfizer in 2000. The case was brought by a whistleblower who was a former medical liaison for Parke-Davis and who received a multi-million dollar pay-out as part of the settlement.
Bextra
In 2009, Pfizer was the subject of another whistleblower lawsuit, this time for its fraudulent marketing of the pain drug Bextra. This time the company was required to pay $2.3 billion in criminal and civil fines. The whistleblower, a former Pfizer sales representative, received more than $51.5 million from the settlement.
Florida Whistleblower Claims Lawyer
Whistleblower claims can result in a significant recovery for the plaintiff, but they are also complex cases that can be difficult to pursue. If you have knowledge of Medicaid fraud by your current or former employer, it is important that you contact an experienced whistleblower claims attorney without delay. Call Wagner, McLaughlin & Whittemore now for a free consultation to see how we can help