Janssen Pharmaceutical’s loss in a False Claims Act (FCA) case for the company’s HIV treatments resulted in judgments of roughly $1.6 billion – an outcome the company appealed to the Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
It’s not surprising that, of all the recommendations the U.S. CDC’s vaccine advisory board made at its June meeting, the first one Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy signed off on would essentially remove thimerosal from influenza vaccines in the U.S. What is surprising is the time it took for him to do so, given his long-held position on the preservative used in multidose vials and his insistence that a thimerosal presentation and vote be added to the agenda.
The U.S. False Claims Act (FCA) is not the only statute governing the submission of false claims to federal agencies thanks to the more than 30 states with their own versions of the FCA. However, the federal government is providing states with more incentives to amplify their FCA-related activities, a development that raises the stakes for companies in the life sciences.
