US Court dismisses whistleblower case against drugmaker

The US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois in Chicago has rejected an attempt by former sales representatives of Aventis, a US  unit of France-headquartered drug major Sanofi-Aventis, to bring a qui  tam action against their former employer. According to the FDA Law Blog,  the decision is "yet another example in which a federal court has  rejected a False Claims Act qui tam law suit against a drug manufacturer  alleging unlawful off-label promotional practices."

The most recent case, US ex rel Kennedy versus Aventis Pharmaceuticals,  concerned allegations of off-label marketing by the firm of Lovenox  (enoxaparin sodium). An earlier case in the US District Court for the  Middle District of Florida (Tampa Division) rejected a similar series of  claims against Solvay Pharmaceuticals, the US arm of the Belgian  drugmaker.

Commenting on the issue of qui tam claims against pharmaceutical firms,  the specialist law firm Hyman, Phelps & McNamara, noted that, "where the  government has intervened in qui tam suits alleging off-label promotion,  the government has had a greater likelihood of success in extracting a  settlement from the defendant than in those cases where the government  has declined to intervene."