United States v. Alpharma, Inc. (Summary)

FALSE CLAIMS ACT

United States v. Alpharma, Inc., No. ELH-10-1601 (D. Md. Mar. 5, 2013)

The United States District Court for the District of Maryland granted a pharmaceutical corporation’s motion to dismiss in this False Claims Act (“FCA”) case.

An employee of the corporation filed a qui tam action against the corporation for fraudulent submissions to Medicaid, claiming that the company was marketing a topical pain medication in ways that were not approved by the FDA, and that these off-label prescriptions were submitted to Medicaid for reimbursement.

The district court held that the employee did not provide sufficient evidence to support his claims of fraud. It stated that the FCA requires that specific instances of fraud be alleged in the complaint, and since the employee’s complaint relied on the inference that some of the prescriptions filled by the marketing scheme must have been reimbursed by government entities, these were general allegations provided by the employee.