In re Pharmaceutical Industry Average Wholesale
| Decision Date | 17 July 2007 |
| Docket Number | MDL No. 1456.,Master File No. 01-12257-PBS.,Civil Action No. 05-11084-PBS. |
| Citation | 498 F.Supp.2d 389 |
| Parties | In re PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY AVERAGE WHOLESALE PRICE LITIGATION. This document relates to: United States of America ex rel. Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, Inc., Plaintiff, v. Dey, Inc., et al., Defendant. |
| Court | U.S. District Court — District of Massachusetts |
Kenneth M. Resnik, Stern, Shapiro, Weissberg & Garin, George B. Henderson, United States Attorney's Office, Boston, MA, Gejaa T. Gobena, United States Department of Justice, Washington, DC, Jenipher Breckenridge, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, Seattle, WA, for Plaintiff.
Nicole Y. Brumsted, Lieff Cabraser, Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, Boston, MA, for Citizens for Consumer Justice.
John Anthony, Bruegger Simmons Cooper, LLC, East Alton, IL, Kenneth J. Brennan, SimmonsCooper LLC, East Alton, IL, for Edward West.
Michael M. Buchman, Milbert, Weiss, Bershad, Hynes & Lerach, LLP, New York City, for Colorado Progressive Coalition.
Jeffrey B. Aaronson, Bell, Boyd & Lloyd, Chicago, IL, Neil Alden, Curtis Bergen, Bowman and Brooke, Phoenix, AZ, Jason Bruno Dickstein, Shapiro Morin & Oshinsky, LLP, Washington, DC, for Baxter Healthcare Corp.
Bill L. Bryant, Jr., Akerman Senterfitt, Tallahassee, FL, for Boehringer Ingelheim Intern. GMBH.
Patrick M. Bryan, Kirkland & Ellis, LLP, Washington, DC, Scott A. Barbour, McName, Lochner, Titus & Williams, Albany, NY, Neville H. Boschert, Watkins, Ludlam, Winter & Stennis, P.S., Jackson, MS, for Ivax Corp.
Raymond L. Brown, Brown, Buchanan & Sessoms, PA, Pascagoula, MS, for Asterazenca LP.
Marc E. Ackerman, Harris Beach LLP, New York City, Brian L. Bank, White & Case LLP, New York City, for Sandoz, Inc.
Joseph G. Adams, Snell & Willmer, LLP, Phoenix, AZ, for Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc.
Pamela Zorn Adams, Sherin and Lodgen, Boston, NA, for Gensia Sicor Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Kenneth W. African, Harter, Serest Law, Buffalo, NYT, for Alergan, Inc.
Kevin N. Ainsworth, Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo, P.S., New York, NT, P. Ryan Beckett, Butler, Snow, O'Mara, Stevens & Cannada, Jackson, MS, for Eli Lilly and Co.
George Ian Brandon, Sr., Squire Sanders & Dempsey, LLP, Phoenox, AZ, for Apothecon, Inc.
Ali Bovingdon, Helena, MT, for State of Montana.
Felix Lee Bowie, III, Davidson, Bowie & Sims, PLLC, Jackson, MS, for Wyeth.
Melanie Matison, Anthony J. Anscombe, Brown Sedgwick, Detert Moran & Arnold, Chicago, IL, for Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. Ross B. Brooks, Milberg Weiss & Bershad, LLP, New York, NY, for County of Nassau.
Douglas S. Brooks, Kelly, Libby & Hoopes, PC, Boston, MA, Steven F. Barley, Hogan & Hartson, LLP, Baltimore, MD, for Amgen, Inc.
Charlie Bridgmon, McCutchen, Balnton, Rhodes & Johnson, Columbia, SC, for State for South Carolina.
Julie B. Brennan, Manchel & Brennan, Newton, MA, for United Healthcare, Inc., United Healthcare Ins Co.
Thomas W. Breidenstein, Barrett & Weber, Cincinnati., OH, for State of Ohio.
Brooks A. Ames, Piper Rudnick Gray Cary, Boston, MA, for Cardinal Health, Inc.
James J. Breen, Breen Law Firm, Alpharetta, GA, C. Jarrett Anderson, Anderson LLC, Austin, TX, Gary L. Azorsky, Berger & Montagued, Philadelphia, PA, for Ven-A-Care of Florida Keys, Inc.
Justin S. Antonipillai, Arnold & Porter, Washington, DC, For Ethex Corp.
Melissa Aoyagi Davis, Polk & Wardwell, New York, NY, Jessica Vincent, Michael P. Boudett, Barnett Foley Hoag, LLP, Boston, MA, Jack B. Blumenfield, Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell, Wilmington, DE, for Astrazeneca Pharmaceuticals, LP.
Thomas L. Boeder, Perkins Coie, Seattle, WA, Lawrence D. Berger, Ballard, Spahr, Andrews & Ingersoll, Philadelphia, PA, for Immunex Corp.
Anthony Bolognese, Bolognese & Associates, Philadelphia, PA, for United Food & Commercial Workers Union and Employers Midwest Health Benefits Fund.
Nancy M. Bonnell, Phoenix, AZ, Elizabeth M. Bergen, Gibson, McAskill Law Firm, Buffalo, NY, Rex Blackburn, Blackburn & Jones, Boise, ID, for Abbott Laboratories.
Martin A. Aronson, Morrill & Aronson, Phoenix, AZ, for Fujisawa Healthcare, Inc.
Daniel F. Attridge, Kirkland & Ellis, Washington, DC, for B.Braun Medical, Inc.
Susan Hughes, Banning Hemenway, Boston, MA, for Neighborhood Health Plan, Inc.
Mitchell J. Banas, Jr., Jaeckle Fleischmann & Mugel, LLP, Buffalo, NY, for Biogen Idec, Inc.
Megan M. Auchincloss, Morrison & Foerster, Denver, CO, for Purdue Pharma, L.P.
Pamela J. Auerbachm, Kirkland & Ellis, LLC, Washington, DC, for Barr Laboratories, Inc.
Jennifer Aurora, Sedgvvick, Detert, Moran & Arnold, LLP, New York, NY, for Organon Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc.
Violet I. Balan, Mayer, Brown, Rowe & Maw, LLP, Chicago, IL, for Johnson & Johnson.
Anita Bapooji Ryan, Robert P. Blood, Goodwin Procter, LLP, Boston, MA, for TAP Pharmaceuticals Products, Inc.
Jason E. Baranski, Morgan Lewis & Bockius, LLP, Philadelphia, PA, for Pharmacia & Upjohn, Inc.
Elise M. Bloom, Edwin Baum, Proskauer, Rose Law Firm, New York, NY, for Biovail Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Jon Steven Baughman, Stacy D. Belf, Ropes & Gray LLP, Washington, DC, Daniel J. Bennett, Ropes & Gray LLP, Boston, MA, Sheila L. Birnbaum, Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom, New York, NY, for Schering-Plough Corp.
Charles Barnhill, Miner, Barnhill & Galland, Madision, WI, for Commonwealth of Kentucky.
Christopher K. Barry-Smith, Office of Atty. Gen., Boston, MA, for State of Mass.
S. Paul Battaglia, Bond, Schoeneck & King, PLLC, Syracuse, NY, for Par Pharmaceutical, Inc.
Rebecca Bedwell-Coll, Mascone, Emblidge & Quadra, San Francisco, CA, for Constance Thompson.
Terrianne Benedetto, Kline & Specter, Philadelphia, PA, for Intern. Union of Operating Engineers, Local No. 68 Welfare Fund.
Mark A. Berman, Hartmann, Doherty Rosa & Berman, LLC, Hackensack, NJ, for Berlax Laboratories, Inc.
Steve W. Berman, Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, LLP, Seattle, WA, for Shirley Geller.
David J. Bershad, Milberg Weiss Bershad Hynes & Lerach LLP, New York, NY, for Citizens for Consumer Justice.
Adelina O. Berumen, Cal. Dept. of Justice, San Diego, CA, for State of Cal.
Aimee E. Bierman, Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Preston Gates Ellis, LLP, Boston, MA, for Aventis Behring LLC.
Brandon L. Bigelow, Bingham McCutchen, LLP, Boston, MA, for Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc.
Scott A. Birnbaum, Birnbaum & Godkin, LLP, Boston, MA, for Ethex Corp.
Donald Wayne Bivens, Meyer Hendricks & Bivens, PA, Phoenix, AZ, for Dey, Inc.
Steven E. Bizar, Buchanan Ingersoll, P.C., Philadelphia, PA, for Amerisource-Bergen Corp.
Sam B. Blair, Jr., Baker, Donelson, Bearman, Caldwell & Berkowit, P.C., Memphis, TN, for Monarch Pharmaceuticals, Inc.
Lynn M. Blake, Friedman, Hirschen Law Firm, Albany, NY, for Eisai, Inc., Genzyme Corp.
Zackary T. Bentley, pro se.
T. Mark Jones, pro se.
The United States brings this action under the False Claims Act, 31 U.S.C. § 3729 et seq., seeking to recover losses to the Medicare and Medicaid programs caused by allegedly fraudulent average wholesale prices for generic drugs reported by defendants Dey, Inc., Dey L.P., Inc., and Dey L.P. (collectively "Dey").
Relator Ven-A-Care filed its qui tam complaint against Dey in the Southern District of Florida on August 13, 1997. Nine years later, after seeking numerous sixty day extensions from the court, the government elected to intervene. On August 24, 2006, the government filed a "complaint-in-intervention" against the defendants, which was unsealed on September 7, 2006, and served Dey with this unsealed complaint.1 The factual basis for the complaint is set forth in this Court's prior opinion in United States ex rel. Ven-A-Care of the Florida Keys, Inc. v. Abbott Labs., Inc., 491 F.Supp.2d 12, 15-17 (D.Mass.2007), with which the Court assumes familiarity.
Among other things, Dey argues that all causes of action accruing in connection with claims submitted for payment more than 6 years before the government intervened are barred by the statute of limitations, 31 U.S.C. § 3731(b)(1). Citing United States v. The Baylor Univ. Med. Ctr., 469 F.3d 263, 268 (2d Cir.2006) ("Baylor"), Dey argues that the action is deemed to have been commenced against Dey for statute of limitations purposes when the complaint-in-intervention was filed by the government on August 24, 2006.
After oral argument, the Court ALLOWS, in part, and DENIES, in part, Dey's motion to dismiss.
Relator filed its initial complaint in 1995, and an amended complaint against Dey on August 13, 1997, in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida. Relator filed a separate complaint against Dey in this district on April 10, 2000. On December 22, 2004, the United States and relator moved to sever and transfer the claims; against Dey in Florida to Massachusetts. Those claims were transferred to this district and assigned Case No. 05-11084. On June 26, 2006, in response to the' United States' and relator's request, the related claims originally filed against Dey in the District of Massachusetts were severed from the remainder of that case and consolidated with the claims transferred from Florida. On August 23, 2006, this ease finally saw the light of Dey when the United States filed its notice of intervention and complaint-in-intervention in the consolidated case. The complaint was formally unsealed on September 7, 2006. On October 31, 2006, relator Ven-A-Care filed an amended complaint, which adopted the United States' complaint. On November 20, 2006, the case was consolidated with this Court's Average Wholesale Price Multi-District Litigation ("MDL") proceeding.
The FCA is "intended to reach all types of fraud, without qualification, that might result in financial loss to the Government." United States v. Neifert-White Co., 390 U.S. 228, 232, 88 S.Ct. 959, 19 L.Ed.2d 1061 (1968). It permits private entities, called relators, to...
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