Supreme Court Rejects Appeal of Procrit Whistleblower Lawsuit
The U.S. Supreme Court has rejected an attempt by Johnson & Johnson to appeal a whistleblower lawsuit that claims the company was offering kickbacks to doctors for prescribing Procrit, an anemia drug.
The lawsuit was originally filed by Max Duxbury, a sales representative for J&J subsidiary Ortho Biotech Products, now known as Centocor Ortho Biotech. Duxbury accused the company of giving free samples, money and discounts to doctors who prescribed Procrit to patients.
Johnson & Johnson has sought to have the whistleblower lawsuit thrown out, arguing that Duxbury was not the first person to file a lawsuit over the claims, which the company says is required under whistleblower lawsuit provisions. However, last August a First Circuit Court of Appeals ruling allowed Duxbury’s lawsuit to move forward, saying that it qualified because he was an original source of information on the fraud claims.
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Learn MoreThe Supreme Court has issued an order declining to hear Johnson & Johnson’s appeal. The Obama Administration, while not joining the lawsuit, urged the court to reject the appeal.
Whistleblowers who report a false claim against the government may be entitled to 15% to 25% of any money that the government recovers from the offenders under the qui tam provision of the False Claims Act. In return, the whistleblower must be the first to bring the case to the government’s attention, and must not publicize the claim until the DOJ decides to prosecute the claim.
Procrit is an anemia drug that the FDA has approved for treatment of patients with chronic kidney failure who are undergoing dialysis, cancer patients under going chemotherapy, HIV patients whose anemia is caused by AZT (zidovudine) and for patients scheduled for major non-heart surgery, to reduce the number of transfusions. However, the drug has been widely prescribed off-label for a number of uses.
In March 2007, the FDA added a “black box” warning to Procrit about potential side effects which could increase the risk of blood clots, strokes, heart attacks or death when given at high doses. It and other anemia drugs have also been linked to an increased rate of tumor growth when given to patients with certain types of cancers.
2 Comments
ellenFebruary 1, 2012 at 2:26 pm
Read the Book Blood Feud by Kathleen Sharp about the lawsuit by Doxbury and the many frauds committed by J&J.
RoseJuly 19, 2010 at 12:51 pm
This is regarding Procrit and Aranesp (DVT, severe fatigue, HBP, confusion/dizziness, heart failure, severe swelling, cancer, no kidney disease, no chemo administered, undiagnosed cancer). Don’t know if statute of limitations has passed. Been putting this out there for a long time. Our mother was a victim of those drugs. From 2001 through 2008, she was under the care of an oncologist. In 2001,[Show More]This is regarding Procrit and Aranesp (DVT, severe fatigue, HBP, confusion/dizziness, heart failure, severe swelling, cancer, no kidney disease, no chemo administered, undiagnosed cancer). Don’t know if statute of limitations has passed. Been putting this out there for a long time. Our mother was a victim of those drugs. From 2001 through 2008, she was under the care of an oncologist. In 2001, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, had a lumpectomy and radiation. It appeared that the cancer had not spread and she recuperated well. In Feb. 2004 (maybe Feb. 03 [not sure]), her oncologist began giving her Procrit injections every 2 to 6 weeks for minor fatigue/anemia. In Sept. 2004, she was hospitalized for a pulmonary embolism/DVT. Procrit injections continued, and in addition, she was put on Coumadin for the next 4 years. She was switched to Aranesp in 2006 and continued getting injections regularly until April 2008. Between 2004 and 2008, her fatigue became severe even with the shots. Her quality of life steadily declined. She suffered with DVT, head pain which increased in intensity over the years (even a shot of novacaine into her brain didn’t help), high blood pressure, severe dizziness and confusion, severe loss of balance, swelling of the legs, shortness of breath, and chronic heart failure (June 2007 ). During a follow-up visit, our mother’s cardiologist was concerned about her pallor. She asked my sister and I to talk with her oncologist about her pale eyes and gums, but he didn’t think anything of it (this was the first of two times the cardiologist actually stepped in with concerns.) She was still getting Aranesp injections. We discussed her many symptoms many times with her doctors. In April/May 2008, after discovering blood in her stool (and then vomiting stool), she was admitted to the hopsital where it was discovered she had Stage IV colon cancer. It went completely undiagnosed by her doctors. Finally, the Aranesp shots were stopped. She underwent surgery in May to remove the tumor and had a resection, I think it’s called. She was released after a week or so and then re-admitted at the end of June for complications of surgery. Things were very unclear. Our requests were ignored and the surgeon released her. My sister and I took her home and she died a week and a half later on July 16, 2008. She never had chemotherapy and she never had kidney failure /disease. Thank you for your time.