Abbvie Inc. and Abbot Laboratories have signed onto a $25 million settlement to resolve claims that they offered kickbacks to doctors to encourage them to prescribe TriCor.

According to the U.S. Department of Justice, Abbot reportedly used their sales representatives to encourage physicians to prescribe the cholesterol drug TriCor, providing various kickbacks to doctors in return. The kickbacks to doctors the company gave allegedly ranged from gift cards to gift baskets, which a doctor could get for writing TriCor prescriptions.

In addition, consulting services from healthcare providers were allegedly maintained to further encourage doctors into writing these prescriptions. Abbott allegedly marketed TriCor for off-label uses, as a way to reduce cardiovascular complications in diabetic patients, when the drug is normally used to treat LDL cholesterol and high triglyceride levels in patients.

The alleged kickback arrangement was eventually made known by a whistleblower. Plaintiff Amy B.. who previously worked as a sales representative for Abbott, filed a qui tam lawsuit under the False Claims Act (FCA).

With Amy reporting the alleged kickbacks to doctors, the federal government and state Medicaid programs will receive compensation for the alleged scheme.

According to a statement from Abbvie, which was acquired by Abbott in 2013, the qui tam settlement pertained to marketing practices that were used over a decade ago and the settlement will allow the company to move on.

As part of the qui tam settlement, neither of the companies has admitted any wrongdoing. For her part as a whistleblower, Amy will receive $6.5 million from the settlement while the federal government will receive $23.2 million and state Medicaid is set to receive $1.8 million.

Overview of Healthcare Fraud

Healthcare fraud is prevalent in the United States and is committed by numerous individuals and companies in the healthcare industry every year.

Healthcare fraud is often committed by hospitals or medical device companies, but can also be committed by doctors, ambulance transportation companies, and even home healthcare agencies. Some of the most common forms of healthcare fraud include, but are not limited to:

• Deliberately upcoding in medical billing
• Providing kickbacks to doctors in exchange for prescribing medications or treatment services
• Overcharging medical goods or healthcare services

Whistleblowers typically receive between 15 to 30 percent of any settlement or judgment that is recovered from any settlement that comes from a qui tam lawsuit. The award amount varies between cases, but the whistleblower must always be the primary source of information for the alleged fraud and cannot report it based on second hand information.

A whistleblower can be any person who has firsthand evidence of fraudulent claims submitted to government agencies. Whistleblowers are some of the most effective tools in preventing fraud against the federal government, preventing millions in fraud losses against the government.

This AbbVie and Abbot Qui Tam Lawsuit is Case No. 2:09-cv-04264999 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.