Proliferation of qui tam suits?
This article was originally published in The Gray Sheet
Executive Summary
The Department of Justice currently has over 100 qui tam cases in its docket alleging fraud and abuse by medical device firms, OIG Chief Counsel Lewis Morris said at the recent Pharma, Biotech and Device Colloquium in Princeton, N.J. He predicted that "in the next year or two, as [DoJ] starts to roll out some of these device cases, sales people will start reflecting perhaps on the bogus research and compensation arrangements they have struck with certain doctors...to lock in purchases of certain devices. Once the genie is out of the bottle and they start reporting these instant millionaires, the device industry is going to see more and more qui tams." DoJ issued a subpoena to five major orthopedic device manufacturers in April requesting certain contracts and remuneration agreements between the firms and physicians using their products (1"The Gray Sheet" April 4, 2005, p. 3)...