Insurance whistleblower recoveries from Phillips & Cohen cases bring Novo Nordisk's Victoza settlement to $60 million

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- A whistleblower lawsuit filed by Phillips & Cohen LLP in 2010 against Novo Nordisk alleging illegal marketing, promotion and sale of its best-selling diabetes drug, Victoza, has been resolved as part of the pharmaceutical company's $58.65 million settlement with the federal government announced today for alleged healthcare fraud and Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act violations.

In addition, Novo Nordisk has agreed to pay $1.1 million to the state of California and $350,000 to the state of Illinois to settle separate whistleblower cases brought by Phillips & Cohen alleging fraud against private commercial health insurers. Those state settlements bring the total that Novo Nordisk will pay to $60 million – including $48 million to settle allegations of illegal marketing, promotion and sale of Victoza from 2010 to 2014, in violation of the False Claims Act.

Both California and Illinois will receive more funds from the state whistleblower insurance cases than they will from the Medicare and Medicaid settlement, which allots those states $84,000 and $26,000, respectively.

"Novo Nordisk was able to greatly increase its revenues as a result of the alleged 'off-label' marketing of Victoza that encouraged doctors to prescribe it for unapproved uses," said Erika Kelton, a whistleblower attorney with Phillips & Cohen. "Victoza is an expensive drug with serious potential side effects that should be used only for certain approved treatments."

Phillips & Cohen's federal "qui tam" (whistleblower) case brought under the False Claims Act is one of seven "qui tam" lawsuits filed by 11 whistleblowers between 2010 and 2016 that have been resolved under the federal settlement agreement.

The alleged off-label marketing unnecessarily increased the costs for government healthcare programs while allegedly endangering patients, according to the whistleblower complaints and the government. Phillips & Cohen's client, Peter Dastous, was a Novo Nordisk sales representative.

His lawsuit alleges that Novo Nordisk launched an extensive campaign to promote Victoza for off-label uses, which had not been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration. These uses included treatment of weight loss in patients with all types of diabetes or who were pre-diabetic, even though the FDA had approved it to treat only patients with Type 2 diabetes.

Phillips & Cohen also used little-known California and Illinois state insurance laws to recover funds linked to alleged losses of private insurers from the alleged off-label marketing of Victoza. The California Insurance Fraud Prevention Act and the Illinois Insurance Claims Fraud Prevention Act allow whistleblowers to sue and recover funds from entities that defraud private insurers, including health insurers.

"California and Illinois are the only states with laws that encourage whistleblowers to expose fraud against private insurers and reward the whistleblowers for doing so," said Larry Zoglin, a whistleblower attorney with Phillips & Cohen.

"We appreciate the work on this case by federal and state attorneys and the support we received from the office of California Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones," said attorney Kelton.

Federal case citation: US, et al. ex rel. Dastous v. Novo Nordisk, Inc., Civ. Action No. 11-01662 (D.D.C.)

About Phillips & Cohen LLP
Phillips & Cohen is the nation's most successful law firm representing whistleblowers, with recoveries for governments and defrauded investors totaling more than $12.3 billion. The firm represents whistleblowers in qui tam lawsuits as well as cases brought under the whistleblower programs of the Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the Internal Revenue Service. www.phillipsandcohen.com

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