[Cynthia Foster]
Big pharm giant Novartis has agreed to pay the federal government and 10 states a total of $72.5 million to settle a false claims lawsuit that was pending in San Francisco.
According to SF Appeal, the three-year-old lawsuit stemmed from a statement made by 3 former employees of Chiron Corp., which was acquired by Novartis prior to the whistle-blowing.
The lawsuit accused Novartis of submitting false bills to government health care programs for unauthorized (or "off-label") use of certain drugs.
California and nine other states will divide $29 million of the settlement between them. It's unknown how much California will receive.
Novartis confirmed the settlement, but did not admit any wrongdoing.
The False Claims Act (.pdf), passed to combat health care fraud, has enabled the Justice Department to recover approximately $2.3 billion since early 2009.
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